INTERACTIVE: Which district has suffered the most losses from floods?

PETALING JAYA: As floods hit several parts of Peninsular Malaysia, the nation is bracing for more rain that comes with the current inter-monsoon season.

This is following incidents of flooding in Subang and Sungai Buloh in Selangor on Tuesday (April 16), which caused nearly 400 people to seek shelter from the rising waters.

Heavy rain also led to areas in Melaka and Negri Sembilan to be partially submerged by floods.

ALSO READ: Floods: Two relief centres open in Selangor, one in Negri

“Such flooding is due to the current inter-monsoon season that started this month and will last until May,” said meteorological expert Prof Datuk Dr Azizan Abu Samah when contacted.

Such a season, he said, will normally bring about wet weather to the west coast and interior parts of Peninsular Malaysia.

Prof Azizan, however, said floods in this period were unlikely to be as severe as the ones brought about by the northeast monsoon season that starts in November.

“For this year, we need to be wary of the La Nina weather pattern which is likely to occur in December.

“Because it coincides with the northeast monsoon, there is a higher risk of more flooding in the later part of the year,” he said.

In line with such weather changes, here’s a look at how floods in Malaysia have affected us:

Petaling is No.1 in flood losses

Based on available data, the Petaling district in Selangor suffered the biggest losses in Malaysia from flood damage to homes and vehicles over the past three years.

Losses in Petaling were the highest when it comes to damaged living quarters, totalling RM258.62mil, based on data from 2021 to 2023.

This was followed by Ulu Langat and Klang in Selangor, while Kuantan in Pahang had the fourth highest losses from homes affected by floods.

Petaling, the country’s most populous district with 2.3 million residents, was also number one for the cost of damage involving vehicles at RM330.06mil.

It also took the top spot for losses sustained by affected business premises at RM193.68mil during the three-year period.

These figures are from the Special Reports on Impact of Floods in Malaysia from 2021 to 2023, with the latest data being released by the Statistics Department on March 11.

Commenting on Petaling being tops, Prof Azizan said the situation was due to the Klang Valley having the most assets compared to other areas in the country.

“More assets in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya would be lost due to the density of such urban areas, compared to rural areas like Tumpat in Kelantan,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Klang district in Selangor suffered the most losses involving the manufacturing sector at RM578.43mil from 2021 to 2023.

This is followed by Petaling with RM301.45mil and Segamat in Johor at RM9.45mil.

2021 floods were extraordinary

From the data, the total losses in the three-year period were mostly contributed by the 2021 floods, which were described as “extraordinary,” occurring only once in 100 years.

ALSO READ: Once in 100 years: One month’s average rainfall poured down in one day

The amount of rain that fell in the Klang Valley on Dec 17, 2021 was equal to the average rainfall for a whole month.

Flooding also happened in Pahang, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Terengganu, Kelantan and Perak at that time.

As such, Malaysia’s flood losses were significantly the highest in 2021, at RM6.11bil.

In comparison, last year’s flood losses came up to RM760mil.

For all three years – 2021 to 2023 – the sector which racked up the highest portion of losses was public infrastructure.

In 2023, losses due to damaged infrastructure took up half or RM380.74mil of the total RM760mil.

Here’s the breakdown of flood losses by sector throughout the years:

Last year, flood losses from damaged living quarters nationwide amounted to RM168.26mil.

This made up 22.3% of the total losses that year.

Type your state or district in the search bar below to see how much your area lost from flood damage to homes and vehicles last year: