Psychological impacts of flash flooding in the Klang Valley, Malaysia

Recently, rapid development of the Klang Valley has tended to squeeze settlement developments into fragile areas, particularly flood plains, due to the limited supply of suitable non-hazardous land. Developments on these flood plains will be exposed to the risk of flooding. The Klang Valley is well known for its serious problems with flash floods: they generally occur four to five times a year and sometimes more often. Two to three hours of heavy rain is enough to cause the river in the Klang Valley to reach its peak discharge. Flash floods have led to intangible psychological impacts on the effected residents. This research will discuss the psychological impacts of flash flooding in two residential areas with different levels of living community and different housing constructions. The first is the properly planned settlement of TTDI Jaya and the second is the squatter settlement of Kampung Haji Abdullah Hukom. The information discussed here is drawn from interviews with the residents and questionnaire surveys.