BY PRIYA MENON

These residents in Kampung Melayu Subang have little protection when the water levels in the river rise during a downpour.

AFTER a decade of flooding and millions of ringgit washed away, residents of Kampung Melayu Subang will finally see an end to their yearly misery.

A new flood wall is in the midst of construction at the banks of Sungai Damansara near the village to help keep the rising water levels at bay during rainy days.

Construction of the wall, a state government-funded project, began last month following a meeting between relevant government agencies, including the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA), and the villagers.

MBSA councillor Foong Saik Hoong said the RM20mil wall would be built along a 1.6km stretch and was expected to be completed in two years.

“The wall will be raised by about 1m to prevent floodwaters from getting into the houses,” he added.

The floods, he said, was one of the main problems the villagers had to endure several times a year.

Resident Misni Mohd Dahlan said they had been faced with flood woes for over 10 years and each year they were hit at least four times.

“We estimate the damage to have gone into millions of ringgit especially as 1,000 houses are affected at any one time.

“This year alone we have had two incidents, the latest was last week,” he added.

Waters could reach up to 0.6m high and he suspected that it was from the backflow of nearby housing estates surrounding their village.

Misni also said the villagers were happy to hear about the new flood walls but hoped that other contributory factors would be looked into as well.

Kampung Melayu Subang and its surrounding areas, he said, had drainage issues which could also be a cause for the floods.

“The drains in the village are fine but there are both cement and soil drains that do not work well together.

“During a downpour, some of the soil drains collapse, disrupting the water flow in the process,” he added.

Mislah Sajat, 43, a carpenter who ran his business along the river, said he wanted to see if the wall really works before banking on it as he had been disappointed many times before in the past.

“Before this, there were other flood mitigation projects that did not work, so I am not going to trust this new plan. Seeing is believing,” he said.

Mislah said he had discarded all valuable items many years ago and kept the lower maintenance tools and furniture in the shop.

He uses pallets to make furniture so that they are easy to restore after a flood,” he said.

“All we need to do is varnish the wood.

“In the event of a flood we just wash it down, if it is not varnished then we have a lot of work but still, the wood does not get damaged,” he said.