Even the roof wasn’t safe enough, says flood victim

 

Rising floodwaters forced the welder and his son to swim to a neighbour’s two-storey house. (Bernama pic)

KUANTAN: They thought their roof was high enough, but a father and son had to abandon it and risked their lives to seek help after being caught in the floods at Kampung Batu Sawar in Bukit Kuin here.

Sahadan Ibrahim, 54, a welder, said he and his son, Fikri, 21, decided to climb on the roof of their house when the floodwaters started rising sharply at 2pm today.

“The water level was inching closer to us, giving us second thoughts about whether to stay on the roof. After discussing it, we decided to swim towards a two-storey house about 50m away,” he said.

“Thankfully, we were safe despite the strong current and were able to survive on the roof of the other house, until a villager rescued us with his boat.”

Sahadan said they initially intended to tough it out on the roof of their home because they thought the floodwaters would not be too bad.

However, he soon realised that the floods were the worst he had experienced since settling down in Bukit Kuin five years ago.

“The water rose quickly and even though we had moved important items to a high place, in the end everything could not be saved because we did not have time to get them. The most important thing on our minds at that time was to save ourselves,” he said.

Sahadan’s son-in-law Sulaiman Roslan, 25, said he rushed to look for his father-in-law after receiving a call that they were climbing to the roof to save themselves.

Sulaiman said he was at a loss as to how to reach the village because the roads were flooded, but some villagers provided boat rental services.

“While thinking about what to do, I saw a boat with my father-in-law and brother-in-law approaching where we had gathered. Alhamdulillah, they were safe even though they only had the shirts on their backs,” he said. - FMT