Malaysian malls are undergoing impressive transformation, boasting futuristic and visually appealing designs. However, despite significant investments by developers, flooding remains a recurring issue in many of these malls. The persistence of flooding concerns mall visitors, highlighting the need for effective solutions to ensure a pleasant shopping experience.
Yesterday (Wednesday, 8th May), IOI City Mall’s basement faced an unexpected challenge as floodwaters submerged its premises. This incident transformed the bustling mall into a scene of urgency and panic. Staff and visitors were navigating through the rising waters, disrupting the usual rhythm of business.
A posting on Twitter went viral yesterday when Twitter user @hambaliasri uploaded a video showing the basement of IOI City Mall affected by the pouring rain. Water had reached above ankle level, causing inconvenience for shoppers walking to their vehicles. Notably, the affected basement area primarily serves as a parking space for visitors’ motorcycles.
Like many other places in the Klang Valley, the heavy rainfall had resulted in rapid flood – including this mall’s basement parking area. One netizen remarked, “The motorcycle parking space will always be submerged by waters if there’s heavy rain, and it is the only place for motorcycles to park.” While some expressed relief at having avoided the incident, while another netizen lamented the unfortunate flooding of their favourite mall.
A TikTok video captured the water flowing heavily into the basement parking space like a “waterfall“, as the owner of the video said. Commentary from netizens noted a similar incident at IOI Puchong, prompting discussions about recurring flood issues within IOI-owned malls. One netizen even labelled it as an “IOI problem,” citing the inundation of two of their malls by floodwaters.
Seeing as how the weather has been so unpredictable, do exercise caution when you’re parking inside basement malls.
Netizens can watch the Twitter video of the flood below:
Info banjir:
IOI CITY MALL pic.twitter.com/2crnRt5XTa— bali (@hambaliasri) May 8, 2024
Here are the TikTok videos of the flood:
@shafiq_yaman IOI Putrajaya Banjir #fyp #tiktok #foryoupage #fypシ #foryou #kerjakeras #ioiputrajayabanjir #ioicitymall #banjir #dugaan
@basriebachoofficial IOi Putrajaya banjir #fypシ゚viral
Sources: Twitter, TikTok (1)(2).
Sabrina Azahar contributed to this article.
