With Kuala Lumpur residents still reeling from yesterday's flash flood, the main culprit of the nightmare was rapid urban development and poor drainage systems, a water expert said today.

"One of the main causes of such flash floods are rapid urbanisation and no effective drainage systems," said the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) Dr K Ramadasan.

Ramadasan who is also the programme director for the Forests for Water, Water for Life added that rapid urbanisation such as tarring of roads and heavy construction did not allow water to be absorbed into the ground.

"The drainage system at present is adequate under normal circumstances but the rainfall yesterday made it inadequate due to the abnormal amount of rain water," Ramadasan said.

Among the areas affected yesterday was the busy central district of Masjid Jamek, Jalan Dang Wangi, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Jalan Masjid India and Jalan Melaka after three straight hours of rain which began at 3pm.

These areas are some of the busiest in Kuala Lumpur with high rates of urbanisation matched only by its high population density.

A woman was reported to have been swept away by flood waters while countless more were made homeless.

Urban storm watch management

"We also need better planning of drainage systems, and there should be better drainage planned in the beginning of any projects to preempt any problems. There is a need for more effective urban planning," Ramadasan said.

He, however, praised the local authorities for introducing an urban storm watch management system earlier this year but lamented that it "had not been fully implemented yet".

KL City Hall announced in January this year it would allocate RM62 million for flood mitigation purposes.

A City Hall official told malaysiakini that of the RM62 million budget, RM41.2 million had been allocated for drainage, RM15 million for river cleaning and maintenance and RM6 million for maintenance of the central drainage system.

He added that the government had approved a RM135 million budget for similar purposes from 2001 to 2003.

In April 26 this year, KL was hit by the worst flash floods in 30 years only to be repeated yesterday.

No 'zero flood' situation

The official, however, said that the measures carried out by City Hall would not mean a 'zero-flood' situation.

"We have been deepening rivers, cleaning drains clogged by rubbish but sometimes floods are beyond human control and we cannot say that we can create a flood-free environment," he said.

"The people must also be held responsible and we hope that they would stop clogging drains and blocking waterways," the official added.

City Hall has been repeatedly blamed for its alleged failure in handling the flood problem.

KL mayor Kamaruzzaman Shariff has also been taken to task for his handling of the flood problem, causing a parliamentarian to demand for his resignation.