My condo car basement got flooded aroun 11pm Wednesday night after a heavy downpour starting early evening. All cars parked on the lower ground floor basement parking were waist high in water, including my Myvi which is only about a year old, and my father's Toyota Vios, along with 250 other cars.
Click on the pic below to see the news report on SwitchUp.tv about this.
Amazingly, there were hardly any efforts made by the security guards or condo management to alert residents about the rising waters, claiming that the waters came up too fast in 15- 20 minutes. Apparently sounding the fire alarm would gave risked a stampede of people running down the stairs. In which case I don't know what the fire alarm is for as in the event of a real fire, would they also be afraid to ring the fire alarm because of fear of stampede? As it is, my family and most residents had no idea what had happened until the next morning. I only found out when my mum went downstairs to go to work and she woke me from my slumber with a phone call. By that time all the water had subsided, and I found my car like this.
The whole interior was flooded with dirty mucky water, and I am glad that I'm not one of those people who keeps everything but the kitchen sink in their cars, coz' I didn't lose anything else really important in there, just my car vacuum cleaner, which I haven't tested yet so perhaps by some miracle it will still be working. Of course the greatest miracle of all would be if my car electronics and engine can still work, but highly unlikely especially since my mum had the brilliant idea of trying to start my car before I got down there, which would have sealed it's death.
The source of the dirty mucky water was overflow from the small river next to condo which usually is pretty small, as seen below from my condo window.
The source of the dirty mucky water was overflow from the small river next to condo which usually is pretty small, as seen below from my condo window.
My car and my father's car having been at the workshop since then and until now both are only being cleaned up and the workshop people cannot estimate how much the damage will be yet because they are dismantling all the parts and waiting for it to dry out. Both cars will be there at least a week. I'm expecting the cost will come up to at least RM10,000 for my car although I'm hoping the fact that Myvis are common will mean parts are cheaper. Insurance does not cover for natural disasters, so there goes at least two months salary, probably. :( And my insurance company also ticked me off when I just asked for a tow truck guy and their tow trucker called me back wanting to charge me RM80 to tow my car to USJ 1 perodua service center, which is like FIVE minutes away, so I said no. Plus, it was only later when I called the insurance company again when I confirmed that towing is actually covered by the insurance company, by which time my dad had gotten some other tow truck to take it to our normal service centre for RM70 (some of these truck wanted to charge RM150 after they saw all the ruined cars and the potential business! I can only call them heartless scum and that's being nice of me). And my wonderful insurance company said they wouldn't cover for that towing since it wasn't THEIR tow truck guy. It was only after I complained about their tow truck guy wanting to charge me that they agreed that I can claim back the amount, even then I have to waste my time writing a cover letter explaining why I am claiming for this towing. Sigh, the world is full of money sucking worms.
Tonight the residents are having a meeting with local politican Gwo Burne Loh, and maybe Hannah Yeah, to try and wring some compensation from our condo management, although it's unlikely they will pay a dime to us. In response, I expect all affected residents will cease paying our monthly maintenance fees of RM500, which I help to pay for. If I stop paying for, let's say, the next 3 years, that money can be used cover back the cost of car repair. That's not even counting the price of buying a new car coz' I know my car now will not last me very long even after repairs.
I expect tonight there will be a lot of shouting going on and table thumping, and maybe protest banners demanding blood. I will be there with my camera/phone to catch all the fun.
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