It was a dustier day than usual in downtown Kuala Lumpur yesterday due to the flash floods that occurred on Sunday after a four-hour heavy rain.

The floods caught city folks by surprise and left behind many disgruntled shop-owners whose premises were submerged with water and mud.

Car parks too were submerged, with the undergound car park at Dataran Merdeka the worst hit.

On the main streets in some parts of the city, the river mud from the floods had turned into dust fumes by the passing traffic.

The impact and destruction caused by the floods were evident along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Dang Wangi, where employees and shop owners were seen cleaning the muddy floors of their establishments, even throwing out spoiled food, computers and cooking equipment in garbage bags.

The situation even got Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi angry. He was unhappy with the city's inadequate flood control measures.

He had asked the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) to speed up the opening of the the RM1.93 billion Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (Smart).

"Mobilise all resources. River widening and building of water retention ponds must be given priority. Floods are no longer seasonal and can strike at any time," he had said.

"Yesterday, rainwater rose 720mm, nine times the average rainfall of 80mm while 89 people from Kampung Periuk had to be evacuated.

"We may not be able to predict the next heavy rainfall but preparations have to be in place to prevent flash floods," he added.

Malaysiakini visited the areas yesterday to get viewpoints of business owners affected by the floods, said to be the worst to have hit the city since 2003.

Below are comments from some affected people:

Ayud Maidin, owner of a restaurant on Jalan Raja Abdullah

I suffered at least RM50,000 in damages. All my kitchen appliances were completely washed out and the wall nearest the river was destroyed. The water level rose very quickly. Maybe the government couldn't have stopped this from happening, but they should compensate us for these damages. I've paid my income taxes all this time, so I should get some compensation back when something like this happens.

Chia, employee at the Kiosk franchise opposite the Masjid Jamek LRT station

The shop lost over RM100, 000 in damages. Not just the shop stocks but also appliances like computers were destroyed.

Lee, IM Jihan Car Dealers on Jalan Tun Ismail

The water level in my car garage wasn't very high, only about a foot. But the water still hadn't drained by this morning (Monday). Most of the water stayed above road level because the drainage system is clogged with rubbish. The drains near the river need to be cleared out to prevent this from happening again.

Ganesh Nayudi, phone appliance shop owner on Jalan Dang Wangi

The damages to my store were only about RM300 to RM400. But a lot of other shops are worse off, especially in the nearby shopping complexes. The water has to be drained manually because the drain system is so bad. The basements are still up to the ceiling in water.

Mohammad Ali, security guard at Bank Muamalat on Jalan Masjid Jamek

The lifts in the bank are out of order because of water. The cars in the basement level of the building's parking lot were completely submerged. Water got into the ATM machines in the ATM kiosk. The water must have been at least five feet above road level to seep into the kiosk, which is set on a 4 foot tall platform.

There is a lot of rubbish in the river, it's no wonder the river flooded when it rained last night. The same thing happened last Sunday, but the flood that day was only three feet. Last night's must have been at least five feet.

I don't know if the Smart tunnel will solve this flood problem or not. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.