KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 — The flash floods on Thursday evening was the worst to hit Jalan Bangsar in 30 years.

Business operators in the area scrambled to save their goods from being damaged following two hours of heavy rain.

Kenny Yap, who owns a sports equipment store, said the lack of planning by the authorities resulted in Jalan Bangsar to be flooded whenever there was a downpour.

“I thought I had seen the worst but Thursday’s episode was the worst ever. We spent more than two hours cleaning up the mess. I had to even ask four of my customers to help out,” he said, adding he suffered losses amounting to RM1,000.

He said he was also forced to come to work earlier yesterday to clean up the remaining mess.

“It floods whenever it rains heavily and the drains are incapable of containing the heavy volume of water. Business owners have to pay a hefty price due to the incompetency of the authorities.

He also felt drains in the area were also not clogged at the time of the incident as he has seen Alam Flora workers regularly cleaning drains in the area. 

Tailor M. Menaka, 47, said she panicked when rain water suddenly gushed into her shop.

“I rushed to save my customer’s clothes as I will not be able to compensate them if they were damaged.

“It is stressful. This has been going on for the last ten years and I have suffered great loses,” she said.

She said she has grown ‘fed-up’ with the local council for not being able to resolve the long-standing problem.

Forty-year-old watch shop owner Elaine Tan said the flash floods took her by total surprise.

“The water was up to my ankles, and it was up to two feet outside. It is the second time this week that we have been victims of flash floods. Clearly, there is poor planning and the authorities are not focused on impoving the drainage system,” she said.

Elaine said she tried lodging reports with City Hall in the past but there has been no action as usual.

“It has come to a point where I just have to painfully endure the problem,” she said. 

Another tailor, who requested anonymity, said she was trapped in her shop for three hours on Thursday.

“As my shop was on lower ground, I could not open the door because I did not want the water to rush into my shop. It was quite stressful as I had to rush home to tend to my elderly mother.

“What are the authorities waiting for? This is something serious but they have been delaying to solve the issue for the past 30 years. This is absurd!” she said.

Wong, a photocopy service provider, said he spent more than RM10,000 building a flood barrier in front of his shop.

“Several other renovation works were also carried out to minimise water from flowing into my shop,” he said.

He added the authorities must take action before someone dies or gets injured due to the constant flooding.