SHAH ALAM: Residents of Taman Sri Muda, an area that is notorious for flooding, are having sleepless nights following recent downpours.
Booveneswaran Morgan, 39, said flood pumps have offered some protection but this was not enough to fully prevent flooding.
“Water continues to surge through drains on both sides of the neighbourhood.
“The pumps are working but it’s not enough to mitigate floods. Drains in front and at the back of the neighbourhood fill up quickly so water levels still rise,” he said.
Booveneswaran, however, praised the flood siren warning system that triggers automatically when water levels rise to dangerous levels.
“It goes off every five minutes when the water level rises.
“Thanks to that, I managed to get my family and children out of the area when the siren activated on Monday,” he said, adding that it also helped many residents evacuate early and move their belongings to safety.
Sia Kie Ming, 68, who has lived in the area for 10 years, said floodwaters were ankle-deep inside his home on Monday, which he said was the “normal level” when floods hit.
“Whatever new flood mitigation systems installed recently have not made much of a difference. It still floods and water enters my home quickly.
“The water began rising around 2pm on Monday and continued through the night. It only began receding the following evening,” he said yesterday.
He said the flood siren warning, while useful, can only be heard just before water enters his house.
“By the time it sounded, the river beside my house had already overflowed.
“The new flood pumps are good but it’s clear that they cannot handle extreme storms,” he said.
Ahmad Nasri, 21, said the warning sirens gave him time to move some items from his house to higher ground before floods hit.
This, he said, was in contrast with previous instances of floods that were more chaotic because there was no warning siren.
“Before, we would get no warning and everyone would panic and no one would have time to move their items or cars,” added Ahmad.
Varathan Govindasamy, 57, said that while the flood sirens were working, the issue of recurring floods was still a worry as it meant the flood pump system needs improvement.
“Warning us before a flood is good – but if the pumps were unable to prevent flooding during the short bout of heavy rain on Monday, it does not inspire confidence that it can handle continuous rain,” he said.
