Teen becomes Sarawak’s first flood casualty

An aerial view of villages along the banks of Sungai Sarawak which are flooded. – The Malaysian Insider pic, January 19, 2015.

A teenage girl from Mukah is Sarawak's first fatal flood victim while some 4,000 people have been evacuated today as authorities forecast more floods in areas along the banks of major rivers.

Nurul Atikah Rosli, 17, drowned when the ferry boat she was in capsized in rough waters in Sungai Mukah early yesterday.

The body was found at 8am washed up on the beach at the river mouth 4km away by members of the fishermen's co-operatives that had joined the police, Civil Defence and Fire Service Department personnel in the search.

Four others, aged between 15 and 47, managed to swim to safety in the 6.54am incident.

Nurul took the boat, commonly referred to as the “tambang”, to get from the village to Mukah town on the opposite side of the river.

Mukah is a coastal town in central Sarawak about 550km from Kuching.

The majority of the flood evacuees is from the Kuching and Samarahan divisions in the southern part of the state although floods have been reported in Mukah and Balingian in central Sarawak, Baram and Limbang in the northern parts of the state.

At 3pm today, 3,403 have been evacuated to relief centres as overnight rain had pushed the water level in the upper half of the Sungai Sarawak past the danger level.

The water level of the river, which snakes through Kuching city, is reported to be still rising.

The majority of the evacuees, 1,015 from 264 families, are from the Bidayuh village of Simpok in Padawan – an area on the outskirt of the city.

They are being housed at SK St Peter.

The villagers, assisted by Civil Defence personnel, reportedly began heading for the school yesterday afternoon and the evacuation was only completed around 3am today.

- TMI