KL Flash Floods: Stay indoors until 10pm, says expert

SHAH ALAM: Expert advises those in Klang Valley to remain indoors until 10pm until the flooding situation improves.

Meteorologist and oceanographer Datuk Prof Dr Azizan Abu Samah said the high tides will be coming in soon thus the flood water will not be able to go back to the sea.

“The floodwater cannot go to the sea so now you have a river back flow.

“Need to wait around 10pm for the situation to reda (improve) a bit,” he told Sinar Daily.

The high tide, Azizan said, will be coming in at 8.43pm for the Klang River, so those areas not covered by the Smart Tunnel and Langat River basin will need to be in the watch.

“If you look carefully all the flash floods are areas near the river Klang.

“Hopefully, the river water will be able to drain to the sea with the outgoing tide,” he added.

On Sunday, Sinar Daily reported Azizan warning Klang valley residents of possible flooding that evening after data showed a 10-hour rain from 4pm on March 5 till 1am on March 6.

Although there were no floods on Sunday, he said the data was still accurate on its rain prediction.

“Although missed by a day (the flooding), it has been raining daily in the evening since March 5 to 7 so the soil saturation and river runoff is nearly maximum.

“Takes that extra bit of rain for the runoff for Klang River and also Langat River to break its bank.

“Looks like the southern bit of Peninsular is getting brunt from this system,” he said.

Azizan said he referred to the weather forecast and observation from Nullschooll, a NASA website, as well as Malaysia Meteorological Department.

He added the rain was predicted to continue until 4am early tomorrow morning (March 8).

No rain is expected during the day tomorrow and on March 9, it was forecasted as “not much rain”.