Six rivers cross danger mark as more flee floods

 

Four districts in Terengganu and nine districts in Pahang are affected by floods.

KUALA LUMPUR: Six rivers in Terengganu have breached the danger level, state officials said today, as more people were evacuated to relief centres.

The Drainage and Irrigation Department in Kuala Terengganu said the Sungai Kemaman had risen to 6.81 metres, nearly 3 metres beyond the danger level.

Sungai Tebak in Kampung Tebak had risen to 18.61m (danger point 18.5m), Sungai Telemong in Kuala Ping 19.86m (danger point 19.7m); Sungai Berang in Menerong 24.61m (danger point 24.5m); Sungai Besut at Keruak bridge 36.36m (danger point 35 m); and Sungai Dungun in Pasir Raja 37.51m (danger point 37.5 m).

The state disaster management secretariat said the number of people evacuated to the relief centres had risen to 8,138 from 5,243 this morning.

“Four districts are currently affected by floods. Kemaman has the highest number of evacuees at 6,711, followed by Dungun (1,159); Hulu Terengganu (174); and Besut (94),” he told reporters.

Flood waters rose ‘like a tsunami’

Residents of Taman Maran Jaya in Maran, Pahang, said the devastating floods on Sunday were like a tsunami, as their houses were damaged and filled with mud.

Aini Shamsudin, 57, said she never expected the water to rise to the roof level and destroy all her belongings in the one-storey terrace house.

The mother of four said this was the worst case of flooding in her 20 years of living there.

“We are used to floods. Once in seven years there would be a big flood but the water had never reached the roof of the house; this is the first time. As I was in my hometown when the floods hit, I tried to rush home on the same day but was stranded because the road was closed. When I got home it seemed like a small tsunami had happened,” she said.

Her eldest son Mohammad Hanif Mohd Nazam, 26, said the floods started to recede on Monday afternoon, but the mud-covered house was difficult to clean. “The mud is thick, as high as my ankles. The cleaning will take time and we are worried that the water will rise again because it is still raining in this area,” said Hanif, a policeman.

A retiree, Mohamad Nasik Deraman, 62, lost his washing machine which was swept away by strong currents. He managed to save his car and a motorcycle.

“The worst flood I experienced was in 2014 when the water rose up to my waist but this time water reached the roof. We did not expect this at all,” he said.

12,000 GOF personnel on standby

More than 12,000 members of the police General Operations Force are on standby to assist flood operations in the worst affected states, a Bukit Aman official, Abd Rahim Jaafar, said. “Besides that, members of the Marine Police, Air Unit, and Federal Reserve Unit have also been told to be prepared.”

Abd Rahim said all nine districts in Pahang were affected, with the exception of Cameron Highlands.

About 26,000 flood victims were at relief centres, he said. Pahang police were actively evacuating flood victims. - FMT