Heavy rain in the Klang Valley forces highway closures

Several stretches of highway in the Klang Valley were blocked and toll plazas closed since Saturday afternoon due to heavy rain since yesterday causing flooding and forcing motorists to find alternative routes.

According to the Malaysian Highway Authority's (LLM) Twitter platform, they are the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE), North-South Expressway Central Link (ELITE), Shah Alam and Bukit Raja toll plazas.

Based on an update at 6.07pm today, flooding at KM8.3 southbound on the NKVE from Shah Alam to Setia Alam had blocked all lanes and a mandatory exit lane had been created at the Subang toll plaza.

All lanes here northbound on the NKVE from Setia Alam to Shah Alam were also blocked.

Additionally, all lanes northbound and southbound at KM3.0 (Shah Alam/Seafield) on the ELITE were blocked and motorists had to find another approach.

A flood at KM8.7 northbound from Setia Alam to Shah Alam also forced the closure of all entry lanes at the Bukit Raja toll plaza since 3.36pm and at the Shah Alam toll plaza since 2.29pm.

At USJ, motorists driving towards Shah Alam on the NKVE had to make a detour to Exit 104 Subang due to flooding.

A few Bernama journalists also got stranded while reporting on the flood in Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley.

During their observation at the Federal Highway, they saw tens of cars marooned in flood water following heavy rain since Friday afternoon.

Jalan Raja Muda Musa in Kampung Baru was inundated and traffic jams had formed in Jalan Kuching, Jalan Kinabalu, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah and Jalan Ipoh.

Sungai Gombak was almost bursting its bank, too.

In Shah Alam, Bernama saw roads connecting Setia Alam with Bandar Bukit Raja and Meru under two metres of water at some places.

People had also swarmed grocery and convenience shops for essentials like food as they were worried the flood could last longer.

-- BERNAMA