Woke up during the call of subuh azan from the nearest Mosque, I had to go downstairs to reset the circuit breaker which tripped during the 0300 hours downpour and lightning. It was still raining and as I entered the kitchen there was pool of water seeping from the steel iron and wooden back door. Goodness me!! It never happened before during my twenty seven (27) years stay in this house. This was the first time, the kitchen got wet from the overflowed back drain. The whole back lane was flooded, all sorts of debris were floating around and the back neighbor’s dog was barking endlessly as its kennel was flooded. Poor dog was soaking wet.
As I opened the front door, the porch was about few inches flooded. The rain was still pouring and I knew I would have to abandon the routine morning jog. After performing the subuh prayer I took my own sweet time preparing the oatmeal for breakfast hoping the rain would break. It did not stop and I decided to get my morning newspaper at the nearest Petronas Station. The Utusan Malaysia had not arrived and I made do with the New Straits Times. Motorcyclists were taking shelter at the Petrol station and certain part of the Station was flooded. I had to read something to kill my time as I was not going out for the morning jog.
Ten (10) schools in Klang District closed for the day and students got day off. Several housing estates and kampong in Klang area was affected and certain roads was chaotic with traffic jam.
Called up my jogging mate Pak Meor at Kampong Delek and he told me he was busy cleaning up the house after the overnight rain. News came from my other friends informing about their experience of the flash flood. It seems the jogging track was sea of water. The kampong Mosque was also flooded and the carpet was floating wet. I did not realize how serious the downpour was as I was sound asleep.
Mid afternoon during the Friday prayer, certain sections of the Mosque was cordoned off as the area was not pray able. The jemaah jammed into the main prayer hall. I reckon it will take several days for the carpet to dry off and the stinking odor would stick on for sometimes. They need to call a cleaning expert to solve the problem.
The major cause of the flash flood affected my area and certain part of Klang was probably due to clog drainage systems and poor waste disposal. Plastic bags and materials is the worst culprit. Stray dogs and cats would terrorize the dustbins and the debris spilled into the drain.
I remember when I was small boy in the kampong, way back in the 50s, I use to see a gang of about ten (10) men equip with parang and saw from the DID (Drainage and Irrigation Dept) would come every month to clean the kampong river. Nowadays I never see anybody cleaning any river or drains in spite of paying all sorts of craps to the Local Authorities.
By 0800 hrs all the flood water subsided into the normal drain but was still drizzling. I drove the car out of the porch and let the rain do the car body cleansing. Blessing in disguise, I saved RM 8 to start the day.
The usage of plastic bags should be phase out as the materials are non biodegradable. Let’s revert to the good old days by using paper bags. The Government should do something about it seriously. Non plastic bag on Saturday only is not good enough. Whoever coined this idea is a NUT. People just avoid shopping on Saturday, as simple as that. That does not solve any problem or decrease the usage of plastic bags.
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