Drains in KL can't cope with downpours, causing flash floods

Federal Territories Minister, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the drains were originally designed to accommodate a rainfall density of 50 milimetres but due to the time and situation, the capacity to cope had dropped as the drains were old and obsolete.

"For example, at Lebuh Pasar, the rainfall reading was recorded at 50 milimetres. But the old drains there can no longer cope with that amount of rainfall," he said during question time at the Dewan Rakyat sitting, here, today.

Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR-Lembah Pantai) had asked for the cause of flash floods on nine stretches of roads in Kuala Lumpur on March 14, which had caused massive traffic congestion.

The minister said the flash floods were also caused by stormwater runoffs from the roads into the drains which could not contain the amount water due to siltation from the construction works going on.

He said Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had identified the locations where stagnant water frequently occurred during heavy rain and was coming up with proposals to overcome the problem.

Tengku Adnan said the flash floods in Kuala Lumpur on March 14 did not require the affected roads to be closed as these were still passable to vehicles although the traffic flow became slow while the water usually subsided fast during flash floods.

To a supplementary question from Nurul Izzah on the upgrading work in the Pantai Baru area where flash floods occurred, he said the ministry through DBKL was collaborating with Universiti Malaya (UM) in upgrading the flood water retention pond in an effort to control the occurrence of flash floods in the area.

Tengku Adnan said work to deepen the pond was being carried out and the cost borne by DBKL.

"DBKL is not the cause of the (flash flood) problem in Pantai Baru but the area at UM cannot cope with heavy downpours.