THE Smart Tunnel should not be blamed for the massive flood that hit Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, according to a spokesman for the tunnel operator.
The spokesman said that the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) alignment area was beyond their system.
“The Smart Tunnel had diverted water from Sungai Ampang and Sungai Kelang during the downpour. Because of that, the Dataran Merdeka, Lebuh Ampang and surrounding areas were not flooded,” he said.
Submerged: Tuesday’s downpour left parts of the city like this road near Jalan Ipoh inundated.
“The motorway near Jalan Tun Razak was closed temporarily on Tuesday for traffic management because cars were stalled there,” he said.
The spokesman also said that there was no closure of the tunnel.
Thousands of people were left stranded as water as deep as 2m covered the major roads in the city.
LRT commuters were also badly hit when the Kelana Jaya LRT service was halted by a power failure during a thunderstorm. Some commuters were stuck in trains and only reached their destinations hours later.
StarMetro did a check around Jalan Ipoh and the PWTC areas after the flood water subsided and found that many business operators had closed their shops to clean up the mess.
Cleaning up: Shopowners along Jalan Ipoh Kecil took the day off to sweep the debris from their premises.
One of the events affected by the flood was the Malaysian International Furniture Fair (MIFF) being held at the PWTC. The MIFF organisers had to work through the night to restore the exhibition site and got it ready for reopening to the public by 2pm yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Hall 2 at the PWTC is closed and all its exhibits shifted to the MIFF’s twin fairground at the MaTrade Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC) at Jalan Khidmat Usaha, off Jalan Duta.
The event organisers had also set up counters at the PWTC for its participating exhibitors as a temporary location for business deals before the MECC halls are ready.
Some car owners, meanwhile, had to hire tow trucks to remove their cars, which were submerged in the water, leaving them filled with mud.
Cheras businessman H.K. Tan, 39, said that the flood woes in KL were a never-ending saga.
Racing with time: Organisers of the MIFF worked overnight to ensure the exhibition would open yesterday.
“They always say that something will be done to mitigate the problem.
“We had so many KL mayors who had promised to solve the flood problem but, so far, there has not been any concrete results,” Tan said.
“I thought the Smart Tunnel was built to curb flooding but I have not seen any change at all,” he said.
Tan blamed what he described as bad city management for the perennial flooding problem.
Bank manager Junaidah Aziz, 30, from Ampang, said the flood situation had become almost a normal affair for the city folks.
Closed for the day: A clinic on Jalan Tun Ismail put up a notice of closure due to clean-up works.
“It is like a bad song played over and over again. The authorities keep saying that they are going to do something about it.
“They spent millions building the Smart Tunnel but I fail to see effective results,” Junaidah said.
“What KL really needs is a revamp of its drainage and irrigation system. Our drains are old, clogged, dirty and in need of major upgrading,” she said.
“The other frustrating element during flood is the LRT system, which also gets affected,” she said.
Junaidah said that the relevant authorities needed to address the flood situation seriously instead of making empty promises.
The KL City Hall (DBKL) said in a statement yesterday that the heavy downpour on Tuesday afternoon measured at 468mm and had caused several low-lying areas in the city to be flooded.
It said that heavy rain lasting an hour and 15 minutes caused the Sungai Batu, Sungai Keroh and Sungai Gombak to overflow.
According to the DBKL, several long-term flood prevention projects such as three flood retention ponds in Segambut Bahagia are expected to be completed in April this year.
This includes detouring work on Sungai Gombak and a flood mitigation pond in the Batu area.
The DBKL had also carried out river widening works at Sungai Keroh and the Jinjang flood control pond expected to be completed in June this year.
Seven more flood prevention projects under the DBKL flood mitigation project in flood prone areas are expected to be completed next year.
The long-term flood mitigation projects such as the Smart Tunnel had prevented the flooding of areas such as Jalan Masjid India and Jalan Melaka on Tuesday.
The projects covering flood mitigation ponds in Jinjang and Batu and river widening works on Sungai Gombak and Sungai Keroh are expected provide flood prevention once they are completed.
PETALING JAYA: In just two hours on Tuesday, Kuala Lumpur saw more rain than it normally would in two months.
Not just that. The rain, which started in the afternoon, was so intense that it caused Sungai Gombak to quickly swell and overflow.
This resulted in the flood havoc in several parts of Kuala Lumpur. Vehicles in underground car parks were submerged and thousands of motorists were caught for hours in a traffic gridlock that continued past 9.30pm.
Describing the rainfall as exceptional, Department of Irrigation and Drainage director-general Datuk Ahmad Husaini Sulaiman said 75mm of rainfall was recorded within two hours.
“Normally, we receive about 30mm in a month. The rain (Tuesday) was so heavy and the intensity so great that Sungai Gombak could not cope with the buildup of water.
Flood damage: Sundry shop owner Chin Wing Ching assessing the damage to his shop at Jalan Rahmat off Jalan Tun Ismail after flash floods hit Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday evening. The intense rainfall caused Sungai Gombak to overflow and submerge parts of the city. — CHUA KOK HWA / The Star
“Coupled with the capacity of Sungai Damansara and the drainage system in the city, the amount of water was just too much over a short period of time.
“Tuesday’s situation was serious and caused a lot of distress to many people, and we want the public to understand why it happened,” he said yesterday.
The Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART), generally seen as the answer to the city flood woes, was not “utilised” as it was designed to divert excess water from Sungai Klang.
Ahmad Husaini said SMART was not closed to traffic as the concentration of the rain was not over Sungai Klang.
However, he said, once the Batu and Jinjang flood retention ponds were completed by the middle of this year, such situations could be averted.
The ponds have an increased capacity of 4.5 million cubic metres and 2.5 million cubic metres respectively, enough to hold excess water from Sungai Gombak and Sungai Keroh.
A Meteorological Services Department officer said Tuesday’s rain was due to weak and variable winds which caused an unstable atmosphere.
“We are now towards the end of the north-east monsoon which brings about sudden changes of atmosphere. The inter-monsoon season is expected to start in April,” he said.
Thunderstorms can be expected in the afternoon over the next few days in the Klang Valley and the west coast but the rainfall was not expected to be unusual.
i'm working in subang but i've to send a PC to jln sultan ismail...at 6pm,
so ....
i stucked all the way, four hours in a traffic jam
and to make matter worst, i brought my hubby and children along...and i've to listen my hubby babling along the way.
25:36 And the true servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk the earth with humility and when the ignorant address them, they respond with words of peace.
And as for the onewho fears standing in front of His Lord and restrainsthe soul from impure evil desires and lusts, verily, Paradise will be his abode [79:40-41]
25:36 And the true servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk the earth with humility and when the ignorant address them, they respond with words of peace.
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oh: It will probably take a while to get rid of all that water! :X
I'm terrified of water, subhan'Allaah just looking at those pictures sends chills down my spine. 
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