KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 ― The thunderstorm that lasted for some three hours yesterday caused havoc in several parts of the city with damage to public and private properties.

The Kuala Lumpur City Hall's Integrated Transport Information System (ITIS) reported in its Twitter account @ITISDBKL that at 4.20pm, five roads/areas were identified as severely flooded, with motorists stuck both ways.

The tweets said there were three to four locations along Jalan Raja Chulan in the city centre that had fallen trees, due to heavy rain and thunder, which came with a flash flood.

Jalan Duta and Lebuhraya Mahameru were struck with flash floods, and the same at Jalan Chan Sow Lin and the main road passing Cheras Leisure Mall and Taman Segar also in Cheras.

The rain, that started at 2pm, resulted in massive traffic congestion affecting people commuting home from work, said a city traffic police spokesman.

At 4pm, he identified the areas as Jalan Duta, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Chan Sow Lin, Dataran Maybank, Jalan Bangsar and the Cheras roundabout, where the water level was up to 0.4 metres.

But at 5.15pm, three locations ― Jalan Duta, Jalan Sultan Ismail and Bulatan Cheras ― were safe for traffic as the accumulated rain seeped away.

The city Fire and Rescue Department director Khirudin Drahman said at 2.35pm a tree behind the Bukit Aman police headquarters caught fire from lightning.

“The Hang Tuah fire station dealt with that, and at 2.52pm, we received a report of a fire at Bandar Tun Razak's sports complex, maybe from a lightning strike that caused a short circuit,” Khirudin said.

“At 2.56pm, lightning struck the top of a house in Manjalara, Kepong, causing it to catch fire, that was put out by men from the Sri Hartamas and Jinjang fire stations.

“As for tree falling incidents, at 3.32pm, a tree fell at Jalan Jaya 12, Bandar Tun Razak, and at 3.35pm, there was one incident at Jalan Metro 1, Pudu.

"Three more incidents were reported in Bukit Jalil, in Flat Sri Pulau Pinang in Cheras and near Pulapol, Jalan Semarak, between 3.45pm to 4.50pm,” he said.

In Jalan Jelawat 2 in Taman Ikan Emas, Cheras, residents of the Putra Suria Apartment relayed information that during the heavy rain, the apartment's roof was struck by lightning causing parts of it to break and fall on cars parked below.

Almost 20 cars had their windshields smashed by falling roof tiles.