PETALING JAYA: Residents in the Klang Valley ducked for cover as a fierce evening storm brought bolts of lightning streaking across the dark skies and strong winds that uprooted trees.

The lashing rain also caused flash floods along various roads in the city centre.

The Fire and Rescue Department said its officers recorded five fallen trees in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya during the evening thunderstorm yesterday.

Four trees were uprooted in Taman Bukit Maluri and another in Section 17, Shah Alam, said its officers.

The Malaysian Highway Authority reported a fallen tree along the 8.9km stretch of the Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong (LDP).

On the Federal Highway, heavy rain brought flash floods at Persimpangan Clock Tower near the Batu toll plaza.

Residents also reported minor flash floods along Jalan Burhanuddin Helmi in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Jalan SS16/1 near the Subang Jaya KTM station and Persiaran Surian near The Curve shopping centre.

Over the past few days, the Meteorological Department has issued regular warnings on storms in various places nationwide.

It forecast thunderstorms, heavy rain and strong winds in Kedah, Penang, Negri Sembilan, Johor, Pahang and Kelantan last Saturday. It also forecast similarly wet and windy conditions for Perak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya yesterday.

Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has a full-time research department that has been studying lightning phenomenology since 1991.

IT has the latest equipment that can show the occurrence of lightning strikes in real time and identify the location of the strike to within a few hundred metres.

Malaysia has the second highest number of lightning strikes in the world, according to the United States National Lightning Safety Institute (NSLI), in a 2010 report published in The Star.