KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 — Jalan Rahmat was the worst affected area because of flash floods in the city on Thursday, with mud from the overflowed Gombak River forming a thick layer over the roads.

Shopkeepers there, however, were far from shocked.

Sundry shop owner Jaheer, 45, had water trapped in his store for the night but he cleared out his spoilt stock with hardly a sigh.

“I think easily RM20,000 of stocks was spoilt,” he said.

Jaheer said he was about to leave for home but knew the rain was going to cause a flood so he decided to be on standby.

“This is the third time this year. The water was only ankle-deep the first two times. I didn’t think it would be at my chest level this time,” he said.

Anita Asril, 28, who runs a restaurant with her family, was also calculating her losses.

“It rained heavily for only an hour but the water came in so fast that we couldn’t save our valuables. It subsided at about 3am,” she said.

Anita estimated her losses at RM12,000 excluding the damage to her motorcycles.

“Usually it only floods after two to three hours of heavy rain.  We cannot figure out how it got so bad so fast this time,” she said.

Technician Mio Fadil, 26, said he was glad that the floods happened on a public holiday because there were fewer people in the area.

“There weren't many cars, so not much damage were done but this is still a low lying area,” he said.

“Floods happen here so often that we have pumps to clear the basement car parks but it still takes two or three days to clear the water out.”