A Car Drive Through Water: A Reflection on Rain, Risk, and the Fragility of Urban Life

Abstract

On 12 December 2025, a short journey to pick up my daughter from school turned into a lived experiment in driving under intense tropical rainfall and sudden flash flooding in Kuala Lumpur. What began as dark clouds above Wisma Methodist at Jalan Hang Jebat developed into a heavy downpour that followed us from the school gate to the entrance of the MEX highway via Jalan Sungai Besi. In this reflection, I weave together my embodied experience of reduced visibility, flooded junctions and the anxious task of protecting a child in the passenger seat with empirical findings from recent research on rain, traffic flow, waterlogging, and vehicle stability. Studies from transportation engineering and flood-risk science show how rainfall intensity, ponding depth, and driver decision-making interact to slow traffic, destabilise vehicles and increase accident severity in urban settings. At the same time, climate-driven increases in intense rainfall expose the limits of drainage and road infrastructure and force cities to rethink how they monitor, design and manage roads under water. My simple question on that evening—“Which lane will still be passable for this old car?”—connects directly to deeper scientific and ethical questions about urban resilience, equity and the everyday vulnerability of families moving through a flooded city.