Tracking the Malaysia floods
A visual story
Peninsular Malaysia is experiencing one of its worst floods in decades.
Authorities say they are dealing with a once-in-a-century downpour that has brought over a month’s worth of torrential rain, resulting in catastrophic consequences.
As of 27 December, the death toll stands at 48; over 68,000 people were living in evacuation centres at the height of the disaster. Photographs of desperate residents stranded on rooftops and vehicles trapped on highways point towards a possibly inadequate flood response.
Speaking to scientists and people with first-hand accounts detailing the extent of destruction on the ground, and aided by weather visualisation tools, Eco-Business attempts to reconstruct the path of the storm and present a clearer picture of what went down when the massive floods struck.
A toppled house along a flooded river in Selangor on 20 December 2021. Image: Jeremy Chin.
A toppled house along a flooded river in Selangor on 20 December 2021. Image: Jeremy Chin.
Wind flow on 14 December 2021 at around 1,500m height, where rain-bearing clouds usually form. Image: Earth Nullschool.
Wind flow on 14 December 2021 at around 1,500m height, where rain-bearing clouds usually form. Image: Earth Nullschool.
Malaysian Meteorological Department's continuous rainfall alert at 2pm on 14 December 2021. Subsequent updates increased the coverage of the alert. Image: Twitter/ @metmalaysia.
Malaysian Meteorological Department's continuous rainfall alert at 2pm on 14 December 2021. Subsequent updates increased the coverage of the alert. Image: Twitter/ @metmalaysia.
The storm had started off as a small weather system off the coast, moving towards Peninsular Malaysia. Wind drawn in from the north reached approximately 60 kilometres an hour.
Associate Professor Koh Tieh Yong, a weather and climate scientist at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, identified the system as a "Borneo Vortex". It is a common occurrence during the northeast monsoon, but in this instance, Koh said that its movement had been slowed by the larger Typhoon Rai taking place in the east. This led the vortex to have more time to offload disastrous amounts of rain onto Malaysia days later.
On 14 December, the Malaysian Meteorological Department ("MetMalaysia") issued an alert for continuous heavy rainfall in the states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang. Such alerts have been issued on an almost weekly basis since the end of October, as the country entered the wet northeast monsoon season.
When drizzles began lapping at the peninsula's east coast on 15 December, MetMalaysia widened the area of its continuous rain alerts. The National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) followed suit by issuing flood warnings close to midnight.
Rain pummeled Peninsular Malaysia for the next three days, as seen on Earth Nullschool, which archives three-hourly rainfall projections. The projections provide a coarse-resolution estimate of where rain falls on, even though predictions of rainfall amount might be underestimated, according to Koh.
16 December: Early in the morning, it starts drizzling in the states of Terengganu and Pahang. Between 7am and 9am, the global weather forecast model projects that parts of the east coast would receive about 17mm of rain.
16 December: The rain area expands into Kelantan, bringing up to 53mm of rain between 2pm and 4pm.
The storm further intensifies throughout the night. By 8am the next morning, the three-hour rainfall accumulation is up to 75mm in parts of Pahang and Kelantan.
Koh said that such rains would not be considered extreme in Southeast Asia if it was evenly spread across just three hours. But on 17 December, as the rain maintains its intensity throughout the morning, MetMalaysia increases its alerts to orange (continuous heavy rain expected) and red (rainfall exceeding 240mm a day expected) for parts of the east coast.
The first report of flooding, in Kelantan and Terengganu states, reaches ReliefWeb, a website run by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs shortly after 1pm. It states that 70 families were displaced and about 400 people were in evacuation centres.
17 December: There is a brief respite from the rain in the evening but reports of flooding continue to flow in. At this point, over 170 families and nearly 800 people are displaced across Terengganu, Kelantan and Pahang, according to ReliefWeb.
18 December: More rain is experienced throughout the day. Several areas in Peninsular Malaysia are placed under flood warnings.
Kiran Sam Raj, a 34-year-old sales and physiotherapy executive who lives in the west coast city of Klang, said that he didn't know there were floods until his colleague asked him to help move items at their office.
He recalled cursing as he drove his four-wheel drive out at around 11am. "The water level was insane," he said. "I almost got stuck."
Video: Kiran Sam Raj
Video: Kiran Sam Raj
Kiran was lucky - the water stopped right at the edge of his office and he could move everything to higher floors. He diverted to another road on his way back home as the flooding got worse.
18 December: Things worsen at nightfall. At 10.30pm, MetMalaysia places almost the entire peninsula under some form of extended rain warning. Early next morning, flooding is reported in six states and the country's capital, Kuala Lumpur. Over 21,000 people are displaced.
Authorities said that in parts of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, where some of the worst flooding occurred, gauges were recording rainfall as high as 363mm on 18 December 2021. The average rainfall for the entire month of December in Selangor is about 250mm.
19 December: By afternoon, most of the rain clear across the peninsula but many parts of the country are still submerged.
Balakong township in Selangor on 19th December 2021 at 11am. Video: Nia Khalisa
Balakong township in Selangor on 19th December 2021 at 11am. Video: Nia Khalisa
The majority of flood victims were from the states of Pahang and Selangor. While Pahang lies on the flood-prone east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, Selangor is on the west coast, which does not get inundated as regularly.
Dr Teckwyn Lim, an adjunct lecturer at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, said the last time it flooded this badly in Selangor was in 1995.
"But 1995 is a long time ago. People's memories tend to be short," said Lim.
Shah Alam, state capital of Selangor, on the morning of 19 December 2021. Image: Wikimedia Commons/ Muhammad Zaim.
Shah Alam, state capital of Selangor, on the morning of 19 December 2021. Image: Wikimedia Commons/ Muhammad Zaim.
Lim added that with more extreme weather swings brought about by climate change, parts of Selangor state built near rivers will flood again. Deforestation in the area which silts up rivers and increases runoff, exacerbates the issue, he said.
Advocacy group Climate Emergency Coalition of Malaysia also identified deforestation as an aggravating factor, along with poor urban planning and river management.
We need to anticipate that the next floods are going to be worse. We cannot always be thinking, 'it's never been this bad before, so it could never get any higher'
"We need to anticipate that the next floods are going to be worse. We cannot always be thinking, 'it's never been this bad before, so it could never get any higher'," Lim said.
He thinks that there should be better flood warnings.
"You hear about the term 'red alert', what does it mean? Does it mean you stay home? Does it mean you go out? Does it mean you have to go to a shelter? It was not clear," he said, adding that other government agencies should assess weather reports faster and issue clear instructions.
MetMalaysia wrote on its website that its warnings are disseminated through mass media, social media and SMS, but several residents living in Peninsular Malaysia that Eco-Business spoke with said they received no such official warnings until an SMS was sent by the Malaysian National Security Council on the night of 19 December.
Federal emergency office NADMA also received flak for saying that state authorities should be responsible for handling disasters.
It was, unfortunately, also not just areas that rained that went under. According to Vernice Tee, 27, the owner of H2 Music Academy, a music school located in the town of Mentakab, Pahang, it had been sunny going into the weekend, before the area got inundated on Sunday, 19th December.
The school was situated about 600 metres away from the Sematan river, which overflowed from an upstream surge due to the rains, according to news reports.
Staff members managed to shift most instruments to the second floor but two pianos worth over US$4,700 could not be salvaged in time. Tee said that she asked for bricks to elevate the pianos, but her delivery was stuck in a traffic jam as shop owners rushed to safeguard their goods.
Tee added that she is not tallying her total losses until the floodwaters subside and she can start thinking about renovation.
"Mentakab is a town that is always facing this issue (of flooding). Maybe once every five years," she said. "But this time it was really too high, the water line was too high, over what we expected."
Tee counts herself lucky as her house, situated up on a hill, was not flooded. In the same town, the flood resulted in a father son duo drowning, and one more person has been reported missing.
Image: Facebook/ Vernice Tee
Image: Facebook/ Vernice Tee
Image: Vernice Tee
Image: Vernice Tee
Mentakab Town on the night of 20 December 2021. Image: Jason Chock, JC Drones.
Mentakab Town on the night of 20 December 2021. Image: Jason Chock, JC Drones.
Relief efforts by NGOs and Samaritans alike has intensified over the past week. Many organisations and charities have put out calls for donations.
Subash Elangovan, 30, who is leading relief efforts for non-profit Sathya Sai International Organisation of Malaysia, said telephone, electricity, and piped water are still down in parts of Selangor
He added that reaching rural and indigenous communities remains a challenge and resources are stretched. Hundreds of members from the group are on the ground, supplying food, medicine and essentials to about 1,000 flood victims. There are also teams on standby in areas further north that are expecting more rain in the coming days.
"(In the past) it would only be in one state, and we will only be deployed after everyone has been evacuated," Elangovan said. "This is a totally different ballgame."
Volunteers distributing essentials. Image: Sathya Sai International Organisation of Malaysia.
Volunteers distributing essentials. Image: Sathya Sai International Organisation of Malaysia.
Everyone is watching the skies now. MetMalaysia issued another continuous rain warning last week, and more bad weather has been predicted ahead.
"Borneo vortices can form again," said Koh, adding that smaller squalls can also bring heavy rain. He explained that the current combination of northeast monsoon, and a global La Niña phenomenon that brings wetter weather to the region is yet another risk factor for heavy rains and flooding.
"Having it happen once doesn't preclude it from happening again in the region." he said.
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