WHEN I drove my son to a hospital in Shah Alam for his check-up on Saturday morning, I had no inkling that it would take me 20 hours to get home instead of the regular 30 minutes.
We had gone to a private hospital less than 10km away from our house in TTDI Jaya, Shah Alam.
It was drizzling when we arrived and when we left the hospital just after 2pm.
The first sign of the impending flood came at about that time when my wife messaged me that the Sungai Damansara river level at our area had started to rise and our neighbours had begun to move their cars to other places.
TTDI Jaya was once flood-prone until the authorities cleaned up the river and built a river embankment wall. As such, I was not worried.
Then, my wife sent me videoclips of her being helped by our neighbours to move our car, and ominously, clips of flooded roads at the nearby Bukit Jelutong toll plaza.
My son, who works at a pharmacy at the Giant hypermarket near Shah Alam stadium, showed me clips, in sequence by the minutes, of the flooded hypermarket parking lot and his pharmacy.
Later, there were videos of the flooded shopping area inside the hypermarket itself.
I told my son that we should go home fast, especially after I read on social media that many places were starting to flood.
We went out from Persiaran Perbandaran towards our house at about 2.20pm, but we encountered traffic jams.
After about half an hour, I decided to park at the Lotus hypermarkert nearby, where my son and I waited out the traffic congestion.
From the carpark, I could see a long line of cars barely moving.
But after a four-hour wait, I decided to drive home. It was then about 8pm. At the time, the traffic snarl had not eased up at all.
We heard that the routes towards the Federal Highway and NKVE were cut off. The roundabouts at Persiaran Sukan and Kayangan were closed because the roads were flooded.
So I had no choice but to turn back to the Lotus hypermarket and wait at the car park, again. We resorted to having our dinner at a stall there while we waited.
The traffic congestion did not ease up at all. A while later, the road outside the hypermarket looked to have been cleared of traffic.
So I attempted to leave for home again. But the minute I approached the main road, I was stuck. There was a sea of vehicles.
My son and I proceeded to the city centre of Shah Alam. We stopped at a shop and bought some food and waited.
At about 11pm, the rain stopped. I drove towards Laman Seri Business Park but was cut off by flood water. I tried to drive through the flooded road but a policeman on a motorcycle stopped me.
“There’s no way you can get through. Look at those lorries,” he said while pointing at the trucks parked at both sides of the road.
“Lori pun takut lalu (Even the lorries are afraid to go through that flood),” he said and advised me to park by the roadside and wait.
It was hours of waiting. We used the toilet behind the business park. The NKVE was located at the back.
We saw cars, lorries and motorcycles at a standstill because part of the highway was flooded. Instead of hearing the drone of traffic, it felt strangely quiet.
I walked out to observe the flood. One driver after another drove up to me in their cars and lorries and asked if it was safe to go through.
Others chatted with me about their destination. One man, a lecturer, was supposed to speak at a seminar in Perak. A woman talked about being delayed to meet her daughter at Section 7 in Shah Alam.
They told me that hundreds of cars were trapped at NKVE and the Federal Highway because of the floods. Many cars were parked at the business park where I was with their air conditioning turned on and the occupants resting inside.
Throughout the day, there was intermittent rain. Sirens could be heard almost every 30 minutes.
My son got a message on his phone that staff at his pharmacy took refuge at the hypermarket office upstairs. There were also customers taking shelter with them.
As dawn began to break, we saw one lorry brave the flood waters and managed to get through. By 8am, more vehicles started to move, but I felt that I should wait another hour.
We saw cars parked by the roadside, some even parked near the middle of the road at Persiaran Sukan and Jalan Montfort.
I believe the car owners parked their vehicles at any dry place they could find to avoid the flood.
The traffic lights at Jalan Subang-Jalan Montfort junction were not working. I decided not to risk driving through the junction and took the long route to my house.
There were parked cars and rubbish on the road, which meant that the now-accessible roads were flooded last night. When I arrived at my neighbourhood, I again saw cars parked at the bridges and the roadside. There were traces of mud everywhere.
My wife and two daughters were busy clearing the house. They had moved some belonging upstairs. They were anxious, as our house was once flooded back in 2006.
Fortunately, my house was spared this time. Some of my neighbours were not so lucky.
Electricity supply stopped at 3pm on Saturday. It was finally restored at 7pm yesterday.
I looked at my watch. It was 9am on Sunday. More than 20 hours had passed since Saturday morning when my son and I left for the hospital that was located less than 10km away.
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