SHAH ALAM, Aug 27 — Predictions of potentially worse floods this year is causing dread for residents in Taman Sri Muda here, who said mitigation since the once-in-a-lifetime inundation of in 2022 have yet to be completed.
One resident, Rosnah Mahmood, said she has already come up with plans to evacuate her home and relocate her family to a safer location in preparation.
“In my house, there are bedridden patients and elderly people. My husband has been bedridden for five years, unable to sit up let alone walk. While my elderly mother, who has just lived in my house for two years, needs attention because of leg pain and often forgets to wear pampers.
“My children and I have planned that if the water level is dangerous, we will leave the house and go to their home in Berjaya Park. At the children’s house, I have prepared a hospital-like patient bed for my husband.
“After the last flood, I had two cars were damaged and totally lost, so I bought a seven-passenger car to make it easier for me to carry my husband’s necessities, namely a wheelchair, patient mattress, oxygen machine, oxygen tank, suction machine, medicines and clothes,” she told Malay Mail.
Recalling the disaster of 2021, Rosnah said her whole family had been trapped in their house by the rapidly rising waters.
“At the time of the incident, there were no items that could be saved. I only took my husband’s medical documents. My son managed to save more than 10 cats by placing them in a room on the second floor of the house.
“I went out and called anyone who could help. My husband was placed in a wheelchair and sunk to the waist. Then three young men came to help lift my husband’s wheelchair and we moved to the school in front of the house.
“It was scary and traumatising. Now, every time it rains, I feel very worried and afraid of another flood. Many residents here decided to move out from here,” she added.
After the flood, the Shah Alam City Council commenced Phase 1 of its flood mitigation projects where the works will comprise improving the sewerage system, building a flood retention wall and a pump house, as well as upgrading and repairing the internal drainage, sewerage and related infrastructure.
However, Rosnah said only the flood emergency sirens are operational.
Taman Sri Muda Zone D residents’ association chairman Andrew De Silva said that the water pumps were not getting electricity from the Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to operate.
“We sent a letter twice to the engineering department and the mayor’s office to seek clarity because the facilities were supposed to be completed last year and it recently was completed. The responses from them were that the contractors were given extension of time but it has not been operational because electricity is needed, and that is up to TNB they said,” he said.
“So, it’s not a matter of will it work, because we can only know when the day comes and I hope they did a comprehensive study before going ahead with the project, but the question now is when will it work?
“We don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes but when floods happen, we are the ones who suffer,” he added.
De Silva also said more mitigation work could still be done to reduce the volume of water flowing into Taman Sri Muda during heavy downpour
“The flood in 2021 was something that happened once-in-100 years according to the authorities but in 2019, there was a similar situation. That happened because water was coming from surrounding neighbourhoods such as Danau Kota and Kemuning Utama. Their drainage system connects to our neighbourhood to go into the Klang River. They can actually divert the drain somewhere else and straight into the Klang river,” he said.
He added that some parts of the Klang river can be dug up especially at the water entry points from the neighbourhood’s drainage system.
“Some NGOs told us that they can help us to come up with evacuation plans for us when a flood comes. Plans of where we should go, where is the safest route for us to drive out from here, but no action. It’s like we’re on our own.
“I think every household in Taman Sri Muda has their own plans when the flood is here, but there must be more precautionary measures from the authorities. We can’t afford to suffer anymore,” he said.
