Low-lying areas in Penang hit by flash floods

GEORGE TOWN: Whenever Arafat Esah hears the vroom of motorcycles and cars in the middle of the night, he knows that that’s the alert for floods. The 33-year-old lives about 700m from the river and needs no other signs to tell him to brace for flood.

“We shout so our neighbours can wake up in case they are asleep. The first thing we do is to move our cars and motorcycles to higher ground,” said Arafat, who is from Kampung Masjid Shaik Eusoff off Jalan Ayer Itam, a low-lying area of the city, which tends to be the first place to flood during heavy rain.