Flash floods wrecked havoc in Penang last night following three-hours of heavy downpour causing disruption to electricity supply to several areas bringing the city to a standstill.

Water, as high as 2ft, flooded many areas in the city including Jalan Anson, Jalan Larut, Jalan York, Jalan Masjid Negeri, Jalan Thean Teik, Jalan Air Itam and Jalan Utama following the heavy downpour starting at 8pm.

Residents in these areas were kept awake till the wee hours cleaning up their homes from the dirt and sludge brought by the floods after the water levels subdued.

To make matters worse, their homes had no electricity supply after a breakdown at a nearby Tenaga Nasional substation in Sungai Pinang.

Vehicles stranded in flood waters

Commercial areas in Jalan Penang, Lebuh Chulia, Jalan Argyl and Jalan Transfer also suffered from power outages following separate breakdowns at another substation, forcing them to close shop early.

The cinema Veenai Odeon operator had to cut short the opening show of the of Tamil movie blockbuster 'Unnaipol Oruvan' at 9.30pm.

The patrons were compensated by the operator and were told to comeback today to watch the movie.

The flash floods, street light failure and traffic lights, brought the city traffic to a standstill for hours.

Vehicles had to go through 2ft high flood waters on many roads resulting in many breakdowns in midwaters.

By midnight however, the water level subsided.

Electricity supply was also restored by midnight helping to bring back normalcy to traffic

flow.

With the motto the show must go on, Veenai Odeon was also able to run its midnight screening of the Kamal Hasan blockbuster 'Unnaipol Oruvan'.