Malaysia's worst floods in years have claimed the lives of 27 people

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

According to official media, the death toll from Malaysia's worst floods in years has grown to 27, as the weather office warned of more thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in the country's southern and eastern regions.

Twenty of the deaths were reported in Selangor state, which encircles Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, according to the Bernama news agency on Wednesday.

 

Pahang, Malaysia's easternmost state, has reported seven deaths.

The floods, which were exacerbated by days of heavy rain over the weekend, have forced 70,000 people to flee their homes.
Cities have been flooded, and key roads have been blocked off, due to rivers bursting their banks.

The floods have affected 210 locations across six states, according to Bernama.
One of the hardest-hit places was Selangor, Malaysia's most densely populated and wealthiest state.

Many residents of Shah Alam, the state capital, reported they were stranded in their homes for days with no food before being evacuated on boats in a botched rescue attempt.

"We literally lost everything, including our cars and our home."
"Everything is gone," Chan Yung, who was evacuated from Shah Alam, said.

"We're hoping for some help from the government."

 

Al Jazeera’s Florence Looi, reporting from Kuala Lumpur, said it is still too early to quantify exactly how much damage the flooding brought as many residents were still not able to return to their homes.

When the flooding was at its worst, the water level in some areas reached as high as five metres, according to Looi.

“The monsoon season is expected to last until February, so there’s potential for more rain and possibly more flooding to occur,” she added.

 

According to Al Jazeera's Florence Looi, reporting from Kuala Lumpur, it's still too early to estimate how much damage the water caused because many locals have yet to return home.

According to Looi, when the flooding was at its worst, the water level in certain regions rose as high as five metres.

"Because the monsoon season is predicted to persist through February," she noted, "there's a chance for additional rain and maybe further flooding."

 

On Wednesday, the weather bureau in Malaysia, Met Malaysia, forecasted additional thunderstorms and heavy rain in the states of Selangor and Pahang.

[StreetCowboy]

I am surprised that this topic was not raised on the Malaysia News forum.  Maybe that should be re-titled "Foreigners' News with a remote Malaysian connection".

On Sunday we cycled yp past Hulu Langat.  There was no news on the internet within 30 seconds'  searching of any issues up there, though I was worried that there might be, as the river has burst its banks before, in the last few years.

There was nothing untoward on the road to Hulu Langat, but as we progressed from their upstream, the devastation was appalling.  Cars washed away and turned upside down, houses washed away, a bridge washed away, roads lifted up and fragmented and scattered about...

 

And nowhere an emergency services personnel or vehicle to be seen.  There were young village boys marshalling traffic past fallen trees and over fallen power cables - great community involvement and support, doing a great job, but nobody there who should have known what they were doing... Maybe they were all in Shah Alam were problems were as bad or worse, but many more people affected, as it is a more populous area.

 

There have been whip-rounds for the people at work who have been affected, for a cleaner in our condo who was affected, and I have contributed to a general recovery fund, but it seems like there is not much co-ordination of what needs to be done.

 

More rain is forecast for the weekend ahead.

 

Merry Christmas, Everyone, and a Happy New Year when it comes.

 

SC