Sinkhole appears, office workers vacated in Bandar Utama, PJ.
Hundreds in Bandar Utama building told to evacuate
PETALING JAYA: Hundreds of employees from a corporate tower in Bandar Utama were evacuated for fear of a power trip following a major pipe burst across their building.
An Air Selangor spokesman said some 5,000 water account holders from Bandar Utama 1 to Bandar Utama 10 in Petaling Jaya may be affected by the pipe burst that happened at about 10am yesterday at First Avenue.
The spokesman said the tower management took the precaution on their own initiative after shutting down their building’s power supply.
“Upon receiving a complaint, our team rushed to the location and found a 300mm pipe had burst at Persiaran Bandar Utama, at a location between two buildings at a hillslope. The water was flowing into a nearby drain.
“Water gushed into some parts of one of the tower. However, water from the burst pipe then continued flowing into a nearby drain, and no longer into the buildings.
“The power supply at the tower was not affected by the pipe burst,” said the spokesman, who added that repair work started within an hour after the incident.
The incident caused about 10m of the road junction between Persiaran Bandar Utama and First Avenue to cave in, and the affected part was cordoned off as the Petaling Jaya City Council managed traffic flow as the repair process took place.
“We came out because there was no electricity.
“We could not see any pipe burst because it was not visible from ground level,” said an employee who did not want to be named.
The pipe burst was more visible from the basement carpark of a nearby hotel, with water gushing from the underground pipe into a nearby drain.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported that 62 occupants from 15 families at the Jalan Tun Razak PKNS Flats in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur, were evacuated due to soil subsidence in the area following heavy rain on Thursday evening.
Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Civil Defence (APM) officer Captain Aziana Hizazi said the sedimentation was discovered during a patrol at flood prone areas at 6.45pm by APM, which then informed Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).
“DBKL then instructed the residents to vacate their homes, and they were temporarily evacuated to Dewan Serba Guna Jalan Hamzah, which was opened at 1.20am,” she said in a statement yesterday.