In December 2021, Malaysia was hit by the most devastating flood in a decade that affected nationwide due to unusual continuous rainfall for several hours caused by the category-5 Super Typhoon Odette that hit the Philippines. As the super typhoon made its landing thousands of kilometres away, the effect of this devastating force was unbearable, making its statement that Malaysia has no exception from the impact of rapid climate change and global warming.
Taman Tiong Nam, an old housing area was squeezed by the prosperous development around it, tall buildings and monorails track decorated its background. Layers after layers of roadwork and its maintenance resulted in Taman Tiong Nam becoming a reservoir when heavy rain falls as the main road around sits at a higher level. When the rain hits, the water level rose in just half an hour, submerging the entire storey of the housing rows. Mud came along, bringing the foul smell after the water receded.
Taman Tiong Nam residents can be considered lucky because it is closer to a high ground compared to Taman Sri Muda in Shah Alam. A cry for help was first heard there. Within several hours of the heavy downfall, residents of Taman Sri Muda got trapped as the exit roads from the area were blocked. Taman Sri Muda is a housing area with small roads sandwiched between rows of single-storey terrace houses and residential flats. When the flood came, the residents got paralyzed as they were unable to move their vehicles away. Within hours, the area turned into a sea of murky water. Authorities were short-handed. Volunteers came from all around the nation, joining hands to help those trapped in Taman Sri Muda. They brought their own kayak to help deliver food and supplies. Geographically, it also sits next to the Klang River. Debates on why Taman Sri Muda is heavily affected came afterwards and people were demanding for the reason of its high death rate. Netizens were quick to point out that Taman Sri Muda was not supposed to exist at all as the area is reserved for water retention before it was sold to developers. The debate first came in 1995, when Taman Sri Muda was first hit by a flood with a 1m water level. When the authorities managed to gain access to enter the area, corpses started to emerge. Victims that died were trapped inside of their houses, some also tried to escape the area as food supply ran low and failed in the attempt of doing so, and some of the victims were drifted by the strong current pulled toward the ravaging river next to this area. By December 22, the total number of deaths in Taman Sri Muda had gone up to 14.
In the state of Pahang where most of the nation's top leaders came from, things were not getting any better. It was much easier to list the area that was not affected by the flood rather than listing the ones that did. Similar to Taman Sri Muda in Shah Alam, road access was cut off by the rising water. Those that lived near the Pahang River had no other choice but to cross the violent river filled with drifting branches and huge timber debris with boats. Some were willing to take their chances, while others decided to stay not knowing of the long wait that they had to endure soon. Volunteers used boats to cross the river to deliver supplies to those that stayed. On one occasion of the delivery mission, one of the boats that carried volunteers accidentally hit a fence post that was submerged under the river, damaging the boat engine. It was a stroke of pure luck as they were already near the riverbed as if it was in the middle of the river, strong currents would sweep them away. Some missions were carried out during nighttime. Boat skippers relied entirely on the brightness of the moonlight as it made it easier to spot drifting debris in the water. In Pahang, the danger of the flood was that it carried timbers along with it. This time, however, the scale was tremendous compared to floods that came before it. Timbers of an unimaginable size swept houses away, and those that were stuck in its path.
Evidence of logging is obvious as the drifted timbers all bore a clean chain saw cut to them. The state forestry department was quick to deny that there were logging activities in the area. When the flood ended on December 25, 46 people were announced dead and more than 70,000 people were displaced causing a RM6.5 billion (USD1.4 billion) losses in damages.