Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
I was on the ELITE highway, on my way home to Batu Tiga from Cheras last Saturday around 1PM, when what would normally be a half an hour drive had me stuck in traffic for about an hour, at the time. It was also pouring rain, so I didn’t make too much of it at first. After all, what’s KL traffic without a standstill every once in a while, right?
I had my younger brother with me, and as we were getting close to our apartment in the slow moving traffic, we started noticing the cars coming to a complete halt. Many pulled over by the side of the road, emergency lanes, and some even in the middle of the road. This was at the intersection literally about 2km away from my place.
I had no idea about what was going on at first, there were all these people who got out of their cars and stood in the rain just because. And then I saw the longkang next to my apartment all clogged up and overflowing onto the main roads.
It didn’t occur to me that this could eventually turn to something much worse, so me and my brother decided to give the situation some time to subside, and we made a u-turn to have some lunch first.
When we came back, we were backed up even further away
We returned around 3PM to pools of water on the same road… much further back than where we were before heading for lunch. Stopped along Section 21 by the Panasonic Stadium and Nirvana Memorial Park, we slowly realized that this was actually turning into something serious.
More cars were stopped. There were people in their cars, people outside the cars, some sat by the side of the road, all in the rain. Me and my brother also eventually came down after being cooped up in the car for a while.
About an hour or two later, we saw the floods slowly heading towards us, and everyone started reversing their cars in hopes to get away from the water. Of course, it was a lot more difficult than it sounds. Imagine hundreds of cars in that intersection all attempting to reverse as far as they can away from the growing pools, all at the same time.
We saw houses destroyed in the kampung next to us
I desperately needed to pee. You know how it is, it got cold, the wind was strong, and if you were in the car, you’d probably have the aircon on. So what did we resort to? Obviously the bushes. I felt bad for the ladies though, because what could they do if they had to go?
So me and my brother headed to the bushes to do our business, and when we were there, we saw a small kampung next to us. It housed predominantly foreign factory labourers, and by then, the water level was high enough to submerge their houses, cars, and bikes as the village was on lower ground. So they rescued what they could while trying to get to as high a level as possible. My heart broke for them.
Imagine everything you owned in your home taken away from you like that.
There were also families stranded with nowhere to go. We heard many children crying. They were cold, hungry, tired, and just like the rest of us, fed up. Fortunately, beneath the storm (literally), the solidarity was strong enough among those of us who had to suffer the same fate.
People were sharing whatever they had with them in their cars with one another, handing snacks and bottles of water to strangers, it was the epitome of #kitajagakita.
We eventually decided to ditch our car and start walking home
Looking back, I wasn’t too sure what we were waiting for – maybe a miracle. But there were nothing but showers, tired families, and people from all over just wanting to go home but not being able to. It was now 8:30PM, we were stuck for almost 8 hours… for me and my brother at least. I don’t doubt that there were people who were on the road for longer.
So I made the executive decision to leave the car and start walking that 2KM home.
We were lucky enough to have found slightly higher ground by the road to park for who knows how long, along with the other cars parked everywhere.
It took us about an hour, through the rain and thigh-high flood, but we made it home.
When I picked up my car the following evening, there were just as many cars and families still stuck
They had no shelter and, to no one’s surprise, were forced to spend the night in their cars by the road. The flood levels had receded a little because there was no rain on Sunday and the sun came out, but it wasn’t enough for these people to make their way home.
My thoughts go out to everyone affected by this tragedy. I may have been fortunate enough to not have lost anything more than some petrol, but I personally witnessed people losing their homes, and I can’t imagine it to be anywhere near easy.
For more stories like this, read: “I Saw The Best Of Malaysians” – The Story Of A Volunteer Who Helped Rescue Flood Victims At Taman Sri Muda and “I Watched The Floodwaters Rise” – A Malaysian’s Account Of The Flood In Shah Alam
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