Tuesday September 14, 2010

Jalan Wangsa 1 covered with mud after pond overflows

By CHOONG MEK ZHIN
mekzhin@thestar.com.my
Photo courtesy of MPAJ Zone 5 Residents’ Committee

THE heavy downpour early yesterday morning caused the temporary water retention pond of a foothill residential project along Jalan Wangsa 1 to overflow and covered the road with mud and debris.
The road is the main access road to Bukit Antarabangsa.
Zakaria Mat, 54, a businessman who lives in Taman Bukit Jaya, Bukit Antarabangsa, said this was the first time such an incident had occurred and he was shocked to see it.

 Dirty and dangerous: A torrent of muddy waters filled with debris gushed down Jalan Wangsa 1 after a heavy downpour.

“I was filling my car with fuel at a nearby petrol station when I saw the mud flow. I took a video and photo of the incident at about 9am before calling the police to request for some help in traffic control,” he said.
He hopes the authorities can monitor closely developments in the area, especially problem-prone sites.
Muddy water flowed down Jalan Wangsa 1 and onto the Middle Ring Road II (MRR2) from about 8am for an hour, according to the estimation of Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) Engineering Department director Hasrolnizam Shaari.
“I was informed of the incident at about 8.30am and when I arrived at the scene an hour later, the situation had eased enough for vehicles to continue using the road to enter Bukit Antarabangsa,” he said.
Motorists were able to use Jalan Wangsa 1 to exit despite the situation.
He said information from the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) showed rainfall over the past two days was almost double the normal.
“Every construction site has to build a temporary water retention pond of certain specifications. The pond for this residential project overflowed due to the unexpected high volume of rainwater,” Hasrolnizam said.
He said the water had caused minor erosions at the development site which resulted in the muddy water.
“The developer was told to halt all works until they clean off the mud from the roads and carry out remedial works at the site of the minor erosions. There is no danger of the slope slipping,” he assured.
He added that the situation could have been worse if it was not for the grass planted at the site more than a week ago.
Hasrolnizam along with the council’s Youth and Community department director Dr Sarodin Shahri, who was also at the scene, said yesterday’s evening downpour uprooted three trees and broke the branches of about eight trees in the area.
“The incident happened at about 7pm on Sunday and MPAJ officers managed to clear everything by 11pm,” he said.