KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — Several major roads in the city centre were hit by flash floods today after continuous rain since morning, disrupting traffic flow.

In a Facebook post, the Kuala Lumpur Control Centre (KLCCC) under Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) said the persistent rainfall had caused water to accumulate at multiple locations.

Among the affected areas was Jalan Ampang Hilir, particularly the stretch in front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy.

Flash floods were also reported along Jalan Kuching near the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTC), heading towards the Segambut roundabout.

“Traffic police personnel and traffic wardens are on site to manage the situation,” the post said.

Motorists have been advised to exercise caution and plan their journeys to avoid affected routes.

State infrastructure and agriculture committee chairman Izham Hashim said river widening and deepening works were ongoing, but it would take time to show results, Kosmo reported.

“Flood mitigation cannot be completed in a few months. It takes time to widen rivers and come up with detailed designs. We must follow the procedure… These things cannot be done quickly,” Izham said.

He said the state government was already using best practices in water management from the Netherlands, China and Germany, but their effectiveness was limited.

He also said foreign technology could not be applied wholesale in Selangor because of differences in rainfall, development density and land conditions.

Izham said the Netherlands received only about 700mm to 900mm of rainfall a year, compared with almost 3,000mm in Selangor.

“Even if we use foreign technology, we have to be realistic. Our soil structure, development density and rainfall are all very different. The most important thing is not just to adopt the technology, but to adapt it to the conditions in Selangor,” he added.

Yesterday, Selangor’s Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah expressed regret over the state government’s continued failure to address the persistent floods in the state.

In opening the April sitting of the Selangor assembly, Sultan Sharafuddin said flooding has been a persistent issue in the state which should be dealt with urgently.

The ruler suggested that the state seek outside expertise, including from the Netherlands, to address the matter.

KUALA LUMPUR: Penduduk sekitar Kampung Bukit Lanjan, di sini melahirkan rasa bimbang dan risau dengan kejadian tanah runtuh yang berlaku berhampiran kediaman mereka semalam.

Ketika ditemui BH hari ini, rata-rata mereka menyatakan kejadian berkenaan pertama kali berlaku di kawasan itu, terutama sejak sebahagian kawasan hutan di sana berubah menjadi kebun.

Penduduk asal yang hanya mahu dikenali Ahmad, berkata kawasan terbabit dulunya hutan, namun sejak kira-kira lima tahun lalu sebahagian kawasan dibersihkan dan dimajukan menjadi kebun durian.

"Ini pertama kali berlaku (tanah runtuh). Memang merisaukan penduduk di sini. Dulu pernah jugalah banjir, tetapi lama dulu... tanah runtuh ini pertama kali," katanya yang mengusahakan gerai makan di pintu masuk kampung berkenaan.

Terdahulu, tular mengenai foto memaparkan kejadian tanah runtuh berlaku di Bukit Lanjan susulan hujan lebat yang melanda semalam.

Menurut Ahmad lagi, sejak insiden semalam dua pekerja di kebun durian dilihat membersihkan longkang di bahagian bawah, namun tidak pasti apa tindakan susulan akan dilakukan untuk mengelak kejadian berulang.

"Saya difahamkan kebun durian itu milik sebuah syarikat di Petaling Jaya. Waktu mereka usahakan tanah ini dahulu, mereka ada maklum kepada penduduk untuk membuat longkang, tapi semalam tanah runtuh masih berlaku," katanya.

Bagi pekerja swasta, Mohd Haziq Roseli bin Mohd Asri, 21, kediamannya antara yang dimasuki air susulan hujan lebat semalam dengan ketika kejadian dia sedang bekerja di Pulau Pinang.

"Isteri saya hubungi sambil menangis, maklumkan rumah kami dimasuki air. Saya pula bekerja sebagai pemandu lori dan memang jarang ada di rumah.

"Bila dimaklumkan isteri semalam, saya jadi bimbang dan risau dengan apa yang berlaku. Bila hari ini pulang ke rumah, saya nampak ada tanah runtuh di sekitar kawasan bukit berhampiran rumah kami," katanya.

Lebih membimbangkan, katanya keadaan isterinya yang kini sarat mengandung enam bulan anak pertama.

"Dia seorang diri di rumah. Jadi bila berlaku seperti semalam, saya boleh jadi cemas. Cuma apa yang kami harap kejadian ini tak berulang dan pihak berkuasa dapat tangani supaya tanah runtuh tak jadi lagi," katanya.

Seorang lagi penduduk, Nor Saharuddin Yahya, 73, berkata, ketika kejadian tanah runtuh berlaku, dia ada rumahnya bersama isteri.

"Kami hanya dimaklumkan petang semalam selepas hujan reda dan dimaklumkan jiran-jiran ada ranah runtuh berlaku. Mujur rumah kami tak dimasuki air yang melimpah dari sekitar kawasan tanah runtuh itu.

"Ini pertama kali berlaku sepanjang saya tinggal di sini sejak lebih 30 tahun lalu. Rasa risau itu sudah pasti ada. Apatah lagi kami sudah berusia, walaupun ada anak-anak semua tinggal di sekitar Kuala Lumpur dan Selangor saja," katanya.

Sementara itu, tinjauan BH mendapati kawasan kebun berkenaan ditanam dengan pokok durian dan terdapat saluran air dipasang dari bahagian atas bukit untuk mengalirkan air ke bawah.

Kerja pembersihan di sekitar jalan terjejas semalam sudah dilakukan, dengan kawasan kebun ditutup sementara daripada dihampiri orang awam.

Tiada kerosakan infrastruktur seperti jalan dan longkang dikesan akibat tanah runtuh, selain tinjauan mendapati tiada rumah penduduk mengalami kerosakan.

Datuk Bandar Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Fadlun Mak Ujud siang tadi juga dilapor mengadakan lawatan ke tapak tanah runtuh berkenaan bagi meninjau dan melihat sendiri runtuhan di sana.

APRIL 21 — I refer to the statement by Selangor’s State Infrastructure and Agriculture Exco, Datuk Izham Hashim, on 21 April 2026.

Datuk Izham has attempted to justify a four-year timeline for flood mitigation by pointing to countries such as the Netherlands, Germany and China. That comparison is not just misplaced – it is misleading.

Malaysia receives between 2,000 to 3,500 mm of rainfall annually, with some regions exceeding 4,000 mm. By contrast, the Netherlands and Germany receive roughly 700 to 1,000 mm annually, under far less intense rainfall conditions. Even in China, only certain southern regions experience rainfall levels comparable to Malaysia.

To cite these countries while ignoring these fundamental differences is to avoid the real issue.

The Selangor government’s assertion that resolving the state’s flood crisis will take four years – and require massive public expenditure – is therefore not a statement of necessity. It is an admission of misplaced priorities.

The state continues to rely on expensive, infrastructure-heavy solutions – river widening, deepening, and other engineering works – while refusing to confront the principal upstream driver of flooding: logging and deforestation.

Forests are not incidental to flood management. They are the first line of defence. They absorb rainfall, regulate runoff, stabilise soil, and protect entire river systems. Remove them, and water flows faster, accumulates quicker, and overwhelms downstream infrastructure. Flooding, in such circumstances, is entirely predictable.

It is indefensible that logging activities continue, including within water catchment and environmentally sensitive areas. The state cannot continue to degrade its natural flood defences and then ask the public to pay billions to compensate for that destruction.

This is not a complex problem. It is a failure of basic logic.

If Selangor is serious about addressing floods, the priorities must be immediate and unequivocal:

i) Give full effect to the 25-year moratorium on logging announced in 2009;

ii) Implement a state-wide reforestation and ecological restoration programme targeting degraded forest reserves and catchment areas; and

iii) Strictly enforce environmental laws, with full accountability for unlawful or excessive land clearing.

These are not policy options. They are minimum requirements.

Flood mitigation in Malaysia does not begin with concrete. It begins with stopping the destruction of our forests.

Until the state addresses this fundamental contradiction, any four-year plan is nothing more than an expensive exercise in managing the consequences of its own decisions.

* Rajesh Nagarajan is president of PEKA. 

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.