KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — The Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel Control Centre (SMART SCC) managed to regulate the flow of water into Kuala Lumpur city centre from 256.16 cubic metres per second (m3/s) to only 10 m3/s following heavy rains from 11pm yesterday until 5am today.

The Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) in a statement today said SMART SCC staff who worked in accordance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) succeeded in averting a flood disaster.

The DID informed that the average rainfall was as much as 45 millimetres (mm) for six hours and The Peak @ Taman TAR station which is located in SMART SCC catchment area, recorded the highest rainfall reading of 79.50 mm.

Following that, SMART SCC activated mode 2 of its flood diversion operations at 1.28am when the water flow at the confluence of Sungai Klang and Sungai Ampang reached 70.0 m3/s.

"Subsequently mode 3 was activated at 2.08am after the water flow at the confluence of Sungai Klang and Sungai Ampang reached 150 m3/s. During this mode, SMART Traffic Control Centre carried out the water dispersal process and the tunnel was closed to traffic,” read the statement.

SMART SCC later set the diversion operations to mode 2 and the process of opening the tunnel started at 4.06am and the tunnel was opened to traffic (mode 1) at 5.27am.

According to the DID as much as 1,594,950 cubic metres of water were diverted from Sungai Klang and Sungai Ampang to Berembang Pond to control water from flowing into the city centre. — Bernama