BUSINESS owners in Kuala Lumpur are exasperated by the frequent flash floods that have affected their profits.

They told The Malaysian Insight that they have suffered losses due to the authorities lack of action to resolve the flooding woes.

Kuala Lumpur Hawkers and Petty Traders Association chairman Ang Say Tee said businesses are badly affected every time there are floods.

“It is bad. Customers can’t come here and even if people want to enter KL they can’t because parts of the city are inundated,” he said.

Ang said that he has reminded Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to regularly clean the drains to avoid another round of flooding.

“If the drains are clogged, whenever it rains heavily, it floods.

“DBKL doing its job, I’m not denying it, but it has to put in extra effort to clean the areas on a regular basis.

“Every time if it rains for extended hours, we (traders) start panicking as we have experienced the frequent flooding in the city,” he said.

Kuala Lumpur, home to almost two million people, has been inundated three times this year.

After Malaysia’s worst flooding in December in the greater Klang Valley, Kuala Lumpur was hit again on March 7, April 25 and May 25.

Lebuh Ampang Traders Association president Abdul Rasull Abdul Razak said businesses in his area had suffered every time there was a flood.

He said Lebuh Ampang, being a shallow area, gets flooded often and that he has not seen any improvement in the past 25 years.

“Lebuh Ampang is in the danger level. The moment the river swells after heavy rain, we get inundated,” Abdul Rasull said.

“The water flows to Lebuh Ampang from surrounding areas and the drains here are clogged causing the place to flood. We have yet to see any improvements to the situation.”

Three levels of flooding

Abdul Rasull, who runs a jewellery store, said he has experienced three levels of floods in the area.

“The first category is the worst where water enters the premises and is about 1.5m high. It damages the business premises and costs the operators close to RM4,000 to clean up their outlets.

“Also, when the water rises above 1.5m high, almost 30 to 40% of the stock is damaged.

“Category two is when the water level reaches up to the doorstep. This will also damage their furniture and equipment.

“The third category is where water rises by the roadside and subsides quickly,” he said.

Abdul Rasull said the recent floods last Wednesday was in category three where he claimed that businesses were lucky, as water did not enter their premises.

He also said that shoplot owners were having difficulty renting their shops due to the constant flood issues.

“Despite a reduction in rentals, no one wants to rent here because of the continuous flood issue,” he added.

He also said insurance companies were also not providing coverage to businesses, citing flood as a reason.

“They label our place a flood prone area and they don’t want to give us coverage,” he said.

Everyone plays a role

Federal Territory Malay Hawkers and Petty Traders Association president Mohamad Abdullah on the other hand said the recent floods were not as bad as the previous two this year.

He said DBKL has intensified cleaning work in most places and that haas resulted in fewer places getting inundated.

“We must give credit to DBKL for what they have done because compared to before, the flood now is not as bad,” Mohamad said.

“Vehicles are able to pass through, delivery riders can still collect and send food, floodwater does not flow inside our business premises.

“So, there is a lot of improvement from before, but things can get even better.”

He said it has to be a collective effort by the public and also the authorities.

“If we keep throwing rubbish and it clogs the drainage, then we cannot keep blaming the authorities whenever it floods.

“Maybe it’s time to stop blaming others and start educating everyone not to litter in public but dispose of their trash properly,” he said.

Early this month, Kuala Lumpur Mayor Mahadi Che Ngah said DBKL will be implementing 14 interim measures at a cost of about RM10 million under the Flash Flood Mitigation Action Plan 2022 from this month to tackle the issue of flash floods in the capital.

Mahadi said the additional incentive was being carried out as an urgent measure before long-term solutions, which are currently being reviewed by the Public Works Institute and expected to be completed next April, could be implemented.

Mahadi said they would focus on monitoring and cleaning works to ensure that outlets by the roadside for water to flow out are not clogged or obstructed, adding that this would be implemented by the public service delivery team supervised by DBKL.