24 hours to rescue my aged parents is unacceptable

 

Lee Ah Chat and his wife Hoi Sow Looi awaiting help on the top floor of their house. (Civil defence department pic)

From Lee Yin Mei

This picture of my parents trapped on the second floor of their flooded home in Section 25, Taman Sri Muda, in Shah Alam yesterday was heart-pounding for our family.

It was taken by civil defence department rescuers at about 3.30pm today, long after cries for help went out at 5pm on Saturday. That’s a painful, almost 24 hours.

While I am grateful to them for bringing my parents to safety via boat rescue, the delay in rescuing them is unacceptable and raises questions over the preparedness of the authorities during such disasters.

My father, aged 83, is a diabetic and my 74-year-old mother has kneecap problems and they only had minimal fresh water and just some biscuits for sustenance from yesterday evening.

Imagine everyone’s anxiety as they needed proper food in order to take their medication.

No alert, no warnings

It was a ridiculous situation as there was no news announcement or community alert mentioned about possible flood risk.

Further, there was no evacuation plan shared ahead of time. By the time we got an alert via forwarded messages on WhatsApp, it was too late, and water had already entered the house porch.

My parents had their own flood precautions which they planned to take if we ever received a flood warning.

But this time, the flooding happened so quickly and with no warning. My parents barely had any time to get the things they needed and move quickly to the top floor of the house which has a grilled window.

Had the warning been issued earlier, I would have immediately transported them out of the neighbourhood. As it was, my parents spent the night on the second level of their home while the first level of the house continued to flood.

They heard the refrigerator and washing machine tumble as the water rose higher and higher.

The minimal fresh water and some biscuits were all they could grab before the water reached thigh-level that evening.

There was no electricity, and they were plunged into darkness and with no way to charge their mobile phones to keep in contact with me. The scary part was not knowing what was happening to them, as they had to preserve whatever battery they had left.

It was truly heart-breaking to hear my parents trying to remain calm over the phone yesterday despite their being in such a dangerous situation.

Over the course of the night, the flood waters completely submerged the entire first level of the house.

They were left to hope for a rescue, stranded on the second level with hardly any water or food left.

Ring, ring – no answer

We made many calls for evacuation assistance to the civil defence department, fire and rescue department, police, the armed forces and to various rescue organisations since 5pm on Saturday.

Most lines were either busy or left unanswered, probably due to the overwhelming requests that were coming in.

Finally, two ladies, Raihan and Asmidah, from the civil defence department became my parents’ saviours. They kept in touch with me on the rescue efforts and sent me a photo and video of my parents upon rescue at 3.15pm today.

Sadly, it took almost 24 hours to get them, due to lack of manpower, which is very surprising in this day and age.

After they were rescued, a volunteer sent them to my sister’s house in Puchong.

The poor reaction to cries from the stranded must be a valuable lesson to improve the disaster and rescue response system.

Flood-prone Taman Sri Muda

Prior to this flooding, Taman Sri Muda was worst hit by floods in 1995 and since then it has been a flood-prone area due to land level being lower than the Klang river.

Following the 1995 floods, several improvements were made such as flood gates, pumps and water retention ponds as prevention systems; however, it was not a permanent solution.

There were few occasions when floods took place, especially in lower areas due to timing of the flood gates, poor drainage system and over-development.

Last year, the authorities acknowledged that the flood mitigation system was inadequate and poorly maintained. Nothing has been done despite mounting complaints from residents. There should be no excuses now. - FMT

 Lee Yin Mei is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.