Cut off, Sungai Lui residents plead for help

 

Erosion has badly damaged the main road to Kampung Sungai Lui, leaving the area cut off since Friday. (Pic courtesy of residents)

PETALING JAYA: While attention has been centred on Taman Sri Muda in Shah Alan, flood victims in Sungai Lui, Hulu Langat, are appealing for immediate assistance, as many residents have been left without water and electricity since last Friday.

The main road to the area is inaccessible, most of it having been badly damaged by erosion, said Sungai Lui resident Saiful Hafizan Saad.

“So far, the Sungai Lui area still has no electricity, water and telecommunications coverage… we have to go out as far as 15km before getting a mobile phone signal,” he told FMT.

“The entrance and exit route is also almost cut off, giving the rescue teams a hard time reaching us.

Vehicles were wrecked by the flood waters in Kampung Sungai Lui. (Pic courtesy of residents)

Another resident said the disaster reminded him of the tsunami that hit Malaysia in 2004, especially as the residential area in Sungai Lui is located next to its namesake river.

“Our houses and belongings were all washed away by the strong current, and the river water rose so fast,” said another resident, a 39-year-old who only wanted to be known as Hakim. “We only managed to escape on the roof while waiting for help to arrive.”

He said the situation in the Sungai Lui village area was “very sad” after the floods as almost all the homes were damaged and vehicles were stranded everywhere.

“The whole place is covered with mud, and fallen trees block entrances to homes,” he said.

Ruined: the two-storey building that housed the boys domitory at the tahfiz school in Kampung Sungai Lui. (Pic courtesy of Maahad Tahhfiz Al-Quran and Qiraat As Sofa)

Apart from the residents’ homes, Maahad Tahfiz Al-Quran and Qiraat As Sofa at Batu 15, Hulu Langat, was also inundated in 2m of water last Saturday.

The schools are located in an area of about eight acres, and are just a few metres away from a tributary of the Sungai Lui.

A representative of the tahfiz school, Ifyanto Nuzwar, said the two-storey building that housed the boy’s dormitory had disappeared due to strong currents.

“I shed tears when I saw the badly damaged school. Fortunately at that time, there were no students because they all went home for the school holidays,” he said.

He added that the girls’ dormitory and the management building were located not too far from the boys’ dormitory but suffered extensive damage from the thigh-level flood waters.

“All the books and the students’ equipment were badly damaged. The items in the management office can no longer be used because they are full of mud,” he said, hoping that the public could assist them in redeveloping their facilities.

He said the school would find temporary accommodation for the male students as soon as the school sessions start early next month.

“We need to act quickly because there are students who will sit for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination in March,” he said.

The school accommodates 35 male students and 35 female students. - FMT