50 hours of being flooded by fear and anxiety

 

Climate change, ESG investing, sustainability, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, green bonds, blue bonds, olive bonds.

There are so many buzzwords that point to the same thing – the collective efforts to change the way business is done, to ensure that the practices are inclusive of all stakeholders (which include impacted communities).

These words remind us that in every supply chain, every transaction, every shareholder vote, there is a living, breathing individual at the other end. Our actions absolutely matter; humanity is at stake.

Recently, here in Malaysia, we experienced the horrific side of Mother Nature, when the wrath of the climate crisis was unleashed on certain parts of the country in the form of relentless rains and unprecedented floods. These resulted in the loss of lives, possessions, as well as the inability to move forward and conduct business as usual. Families have been torn apart by grief; already, struggling to cope after two years of living with a deadly virus.

Here’s a first-hand account of the floods from a university student, who lives with her family in Taman Sri Muda, which was one of the areas most severely affected.

She has shared her story so that readers will know exactly what residents of Taman Sri Muda went through and as she said, “I pray no one has to go through what we have been through.” She endured 50 hours of relentless fear and anxiety.

“December 8th 2021. The rain began coming down hard at 4am. By 7am, the water was up to our ankles in our single-storey house. We thought that this was just going to be one of those days where the water would recede after a while, as we had similar flooding twice in October. However, little did we know that this was going to be a very different situation.

“By 5pm, the water had risen to shoulder height, and the roads surrounding the house were completely flooded. My father realised that we were getting trapped. We moved as many of our belongings as we could to the top of my double decker bed, and on top of the cupboards. We packed a small bag of clothes and tied our two dogs to the back of my father’s pickup truck. We hoped they would be safe and stay dry there.

“The water level continued to rise, fast – eventually reaching 11, 12 feet in a few short hours. The electricity had gone since 5pm, and it was dark, wet and cold. The Bangladeshi migrant workers who lived in the double-storey houses opposite ours beckoned us to take shelter in the second floor of their house.

“The five of us, as well as another stranded family of four, welcomed the kindness of the workers, who gave us their rooms. While waiting, we went online to find out what was happening, and we continuously tried to call all the emergency helplines listed – PANTAS, 999, Bomba – but nobody picked up our calls. Finally, at 10pm, my aunt was able to get through to one of the helplines and alerted the rescue team that there were families still stranded in Taman Sri Muda.

“At 1am, we were told that an NGO with a boat would come and rescue us, as well as our dogs. But three hours later, there was still no rescue in sight. All we could hear were cries for help – ‘tolong, tolong’ – in the dark, while the rain continued to pound down. Eventually, we got through to the NGO, who informed us that private boats were not allowed to enter Taman Sri Muda.

“It was now 5am, more than 24 hours since first rainfall.

“We were worried sick that our dogs had drowned, because they had been tied up and the water was 12 feet deep. Thankfully, when my siblings and I called out to the dogs, we heard barking back to us. As dawn rose, we saw one of our dogs sitting on the roof of our house – but there was no sight of the other dog and we were wracked with guilt.

“It was the 19th of December, our second day of being flooded.

“One of the migrant workers volunteered to swim across to save the dogs. Then, by a stroke of luck, they found a large open tank to float across to our house. My father climbed into the open tank with the two workers, and they were able to save the first dog that was seeking refuge on the roof. Then, they found our second dog cowering on top of the aircond compressor, much to our relief.

“Finally, at around 9am, the first fire department rescue boat came into sight. They prioritised rescuing those in the single-storey houses first, so we had to wait. The rescue team didn’t have any food or basic necessities with them.

“At 2pm, another boat came around, but was already carrying a few other people – and tragically, body bags. Our hearts sank. We then saw helicopters and tried waving frantically to them, hoping they would see us. My phone battery had died by then.

“At 6pm, a boat from a Sikh community NGO brought us food and water, but told us they were unable to rescue us. We were just grateful for what they could do for us.

“It was now nightfall when we went into our rooms, praying that we would be rescued, but also slowly losing hope. We passed another very long night.

“One of the most unnerving sounds was the screaming and crying throughout the night – ‘tolong, help’. We couldn’t see where the cries were coming from; we just didn’t know what to do.

“Day 3, 20th December. Several rescue boats came early in the morning, but they could not take us. They handed us some biscuits and water. And were going round the area.

“There were no boats for a while after that. At noon, we heard young voices screaming for help, saying there were young children, and they were hungry as they hadn’t eaten for the past three days. These cries of help were so upsetting. However, the very brave Bangladeshis went out in the big floating open tank with the biscuits and water, climbed up the side of the house and gave the children our food and water through the windows. Such heroes.

“In the afternoon, a fire department boat came around, and we directed them to the young children’s house to save the kids first. Finally, another boat came to our house – and as my parents were more concerned about us, they sent us three siblings into the boat, along with the father and daughter from the other family. The Bangladeshi workers said they could survive, as they could swim and knew what to do if things got worse. But they, too, had no communication with their employers.

“When we were in the boat, the fire department team told us that all calls were ‘sekat’ from Taman Sri Muda – they did not accept any calls from our area, as they simply couldn’t handle the sheer volume. Their strategy was just to collect numbers and go around in the boats according to the house numbers as quickly as possible.

“We were finally dropped off at KFC Kota Kemuning and were told to register our names at this rescue centre.

“Then, we were told to go to Emerald School, where we were reunited with our aunt. By that point, we were so emotional that we broke down. We are strong teenagers and young adults, but it was all just too much. Physically, we were wrecked and so dehydrated that our lips were dry and cracked. We were told later on that one of our uncles found a private rescue boat at 6pm to go and rescue our parents and the dogs – as only private boats were allowed to rescue dogs.

“We were finally all reunited.

“We had survived 50 hours of being flooded, stranded and almost forgotten. But things didn’t end after being rescued.

“When we returned home after seven days, the entire house was a total mess. The neighborhood was in the same situation. The first week was spent cleaning and throwing out loads of rubbish due to all our damaged belongings. We have moved back in, but most of the residents in the neighbourhood want to move out. It is like a dead town.

“The cleaning just doesn’t seem to end – and despite all that, we cannot escape the stench of still water, mosquitoes, dead rats and debris everywhere.

“I still have constant nightmares and am unable to sleep well. My siblings are still not feeling well, and have fevers on and off. Some of the residents have fallen ill from leptospirosis.

“My personal saviour has been my dean at my university faculty. Her leadership and empathy have been unparallelled. After we lost everything, she, the dean sent us beds, a sofa set and dining table, while some of my lecturers got together and banked in cash to help us.

“My family is trying to move on. It is so hard.”

This story drives home the reality of the floods. This is not an abstract case study, but a real experience of trauma, suffering and near loss of lives (both human and animal) – saved only by the kindness of a few.

A disaster like this is a wake-up call for all of us to take the climate crisis seriously, to address massive problems in disaster prevention and response, and to prioritise public safety above bureaucracy. Those with authority, please listen and make those very much needed changes. - FMT

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