by Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, March 18: Shop owners along Jalan Padungan had the daunting task of cleaning up after flash floods resulted in property damage and hindered them from doing business this morning.
Shop assistants at a shop selling car batteries were seen cleaning the entrance and unclogging the drain hole outside to get rid of excess water that filled their shop.
“The excess water caused by the heavy rain did go through the drainage hole, but there is too much water in the main drain, so that is probably the reason the water has still not receded here,” he opined.
“It could be that the main drain is too small and water cannot get out quick enough. So unfortunately this caused our pavement here to flood. I think there is a king tide, plus the heavy downpour, resulting in this flash flood,” he added.
His colleague pointed out that the shop next door was hit harder than them because it had a lot of equipment in place on the ground floor.
“We have our items on the shelves, and hopefully no lasting damage has been done,” she said.
At Jalan Ban Hock, the Salvation Army Boys Home main entrance was submerged and inaccessible due to the rising floodwaters.
Staff members who were sending some provisions to the home had to stop their vehicles by the entrance and walk carefully through the submerged road to get to the home.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms since this morning have caused many parts of Kuching and Samarahan to become inundated with floodwater, causing traffic in the city to come to a standstill and widespread property damage to homeowners. — DayakDaily
