No relief as temporary shelter gets flooded, too

 

Flood victims at Kampung Parit Warijo in Sri Medan, Batu Pahat, being evacuated from their homes. (Bernama pic)

BATU PAHAT: More than 300 flood victims at the relief centre at SK Sri Sejati near Kampung Parit Warijo in Sri Medan here were forced to relocate as the centre was also flooded today.

Batu Pahat police chief Ismail Dollah said the evacuation of the victims at the relief centre as well as some residents still stranded in their homes would be done in stages by relief agencies.

“The centre was flooded up to 1m from early today,” he said when inspecting the rescue operation at the village here, adding that more than 15 families were still stranded in their homes.

Ismail said 241 personnel from several agencies had been assigned to evacuate the victims.

“Apart from the police, the mission involves rescuers from the fire and rescue department, the armed forces, the Civil Defence Force and NGOs,” he said.

He said police would also mobilise two jet skis to monitor the affected areas.

Ismail was disappointed that some residents refused to leave their homes, making rescue work difficult.

He said police had received rescue calls from 15 families, but believed the number could be higher than that.

“This is because there are still other villages involved in the cluster, such as Kampung Jayus 1 to 9, Kampung Basri Darat, and Kampung Singgahan.”

Checks by Bernama at the entrance of Kampung Parit Warijo found many boats as well as lorries and tractors being used by the authorities and individuals to evacuate residents and livestock.

There are more than 20 villages within Kampung Parit Warijo itself.

Besides Seri Medan, Yong Peng and Parit Sulong were experiencing a sudden rise in water after the river originating from Segamat overflowed its banks.

In Johor, the number of evacuees dropped slightly to 37,258 people this evening compared to 37,322 this morning.

Two more centres opened, bringing the total number of centres currently in operation in the state to 240 in nine districts.

Segamat remained the worst-hit district, with 12,900 evacuees from 3,783 families, followed by Batu Pahat (7,830 people from 2,294 families); Kluang (5,285 people from 1,533 families); Kota Tinggi (3,283 people from 879 families); Muar (3,278 people from 952 families); Tangkak (2,661 people from 754 families); Johor Bahru (699 people from 226 families); Mersing (964 people from 280 families) and Pontian (358 people from 91 families). - FMT