They named the director-general of the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma), a minister in the prime minister’s department, the environment and water minister, the meteorological department’s director-general, the irrigation and drainage department and the Shah Alam City Council as the defendants.
Others named in the suit are KDEB Waste Management Sdn Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).
The federal and Selangor governments are also included as they are also vicariously liable for the negligence or omission by the others, except for TNB.
In the suit filed by Messrs Tanes, Khoo & Paulraj at the Shah Alam High Court last week, the plaintiffs are seeking special damages amounting to RM3.8 million from the defendants.
They are also asking for general and aggravated damages for pain and suffering, emotional distress and mental anguish to be assessed by the court.
In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs said Nadma did not prepare rescue measures effectively after the floods.
They said there was a National Security Council (MKN) directive that stated that Nadma would lead, coordinate and carry out post-disaster action.
They also said the meteorological department failed to give timely warning of the impending floods.
They said they were only alerted two days after the floods, though the department had issued a warning to people living on the east coast.
The plaintiffs said the irrigation and drainage department and the local authority failed to develop and manage the Klang River flood system.
They said the local authority had approved too many development orders around Taman Sri Muda, one of the worst affected areas during the floods.
They also said KDEB Waste Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Menteri Besar Selangor Incorporated, failed to manage its domestic water collection and public cleaning services well.
They said TNB failed to provide a back-up generator at the Taman Sri Muda tidal gates, which caused it to overflow when the existing generator was submerged in water.
Lawyers V Vemal Arasan, Gurdial Singh Nijhar, M Kula Segaran and James Joshua Paulraj are in the legal team, acting pro bono for the plaintiffs.
Vemal said case management had been fixed for July 25.