KUALA LUMPUR: The National Weather and Geophysics Operations centre said there was nothing particularly unusual about the heavy rainfall that pummeled the city today.
It reported that the total rainfall at 4pm, the peak of today's thunderstorm that saw vehicles submerged and parts of the city inundated with flood water, was 44.5mm, which was regarded normal for an average rainy day in the country.
A meteorologist from the centre said the flash flood was a result of other factors.
"There was heavy rain for a short time between 2pm and around 6pm. While this is not unusual for Kuala Lumpur, there are other possible factors as to why today's incident brought flooding on such a scale.
"This includes rivers breaching its limit and possible overflowing, drains operating beyond their capacity or overdevelopment that could have gone unchecked."
Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan said his officers had given him a preliminary briefing and attributed the flooding to "extremely heavy rainfall" that caused the river table to rise to almost overflowing in several parts.
He also said that block drains were a factor in some of the areas.
He said City Hall's flood response team confirmed that the worst hit areas were the constituencies of Bukit Bintang, Wangsa Maju and Titiwangsa.
"The floodwaters are receeding in Jalan Ampang, Jalan Munshi Abdullah and Dang Wangi as of now," he said, confirming what the Meterological Department's centre officer had said earlier that the rainfall had dipped to 37.7mm by 5pm and had reduced further in the following hours.
Nor Hisham also said City Hall officers had been deployed to conduct flood mitigation work and recovery measures.
He also said the flood operations centre was opened to monitor the situation and send out assistance to the public as needed.
Meanwhile the Malaysian Meteorological Department Deputy Director-General(Strategic & Technical) director Dr Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip said that the weak Southwest Monsoon effect meant that Malaysia would experience wet days throughout the year.
"The inter-monsoon period begins in the middle of this month and would last two months before the North East Monsoon which goes on till March.
"That means that the authorities and the public have to be on guard for rainy weather throughout the year."
Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa is expected to check on the affected areas tonight.
He told related agencies to monitor the situation and prepare a report.
"Hopefully nothing untoward happens," be added.