12 houses swept away in Keningau floods, but no deaths reported

The floods were caused by the rain-swollen Sungai Pampang, the same river that overflowed and killed some 130 people in a 1996 tropical storm.

KOTA KINABALU: Twelve houses were yesterday swept away by Sungai Pampang in Keningau, central Sabah, the same river that overflowed during Storm Greg in 1996 and killed some 130 people.

A spokesperson from the Sabah Civil Defence Force said the agency received a distress call about a flood in Kampung Contoh at 5.28pm.

A squad was dispatched to the scene and found six houses along the river bank already under 0.6 metre of water.

The flood waters rose rapidly and inundated a squatter area near Kampung Pampang and also Kampung Limbawan on the river bank which was heavily eroded by the fast flowing water.

No relocation centre was opened for the evacuees who opted to take shelter at the homes of families and friends, said the spokesperson.

Three roads connecting villages and a residential park were made unpassable by the flood waters.

Videos of houses on stilts along the river banks being swept away by the raging waters went viral late Sunday.

Keningau was the hardest-hit Sabah district during Storm Greg which caused flash floods in the early hours of the morning, catching sleeping villagers unaware.

Several villages, including in Contoh, Pampang and Limbawan, were flooded then.

The flood water was believed to have flowed from the Crocker Range down to the shallow Sungai Pampang.

Other parts of Sabah’s west coast were also flooded following heavy rain yesterday.

Kota Belud, which was just recovering from its second major flood in three months last week, was hit again, displacing 74 people as of 9.40pm yesterday.

They were sheltered at the Tun Said community hall. Twelve villages and six roads in the district were inundated.

In Papar, rescuers from the fire department evacuated a family of eight after their house was flooded.

In Penampang, six villages and one residential park were flooded while three roads were made impassable to light vehicles.

The Meteorology Department last week issued a bad weather warning that it forecast would last until this week. -FMT