Flash floods cause crawl along Federal Highway
KUALA LUMPUR: Social media was all abuzz when flash floods along the Federal Highway reduced traffic from five lanes to just one following a heavy downpour.
Muddy floodwaters inundated a 1km stretch of the highway just outside the Bangsar South City development site, heading from Mid Valley City towards the Sprint Highway Kerinchi exit.
Photos of the bottleneck traffic and flooding started going viral over Twitter as early as 3.30pm yesterday.
A Star Media Group photographer was alerted to the situation and rushed there to capture the moment.
Apparently, one of the main causes of the flash floods was that the nearby drains were clogged with rubbish.
Sprint Highway workers were at the scene trying to clear the drains to enable floodwaters to flow through. It receded about half an hour later. But traffic remained at a crawl with social media users advising other motorists to avoid the highway.
Twitter user @farahrider commented that she was stuck in bad traffic there, having left Shah Alam shortly after lunch and only arriving at her destination in Kuala Lumpur at almost 5pm.
The heavy afternoon downpour which began before 2pm affected many parts of the Klang Valley, resulting in flash floods.
Astro Radio Traffic on Facebook also reported about flash floods in Bukit Jalil and Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI).
Two lanes were inundated with muddy floodwater along the Bukit Jalil Highway near Alam Sutera, causing delays on both sides between Bukit Jalil Nursery and Kinrara.
Another flash flood near the TTDI MRT station along Jalan Damansara heading towards Bandar Utama also reduced traffic to a crawl.