JOHOR BARU, Dec 1 — Villagers of Kampung Pasir Tebrau and Kampung Paya Kenangan here, fervently hope the authorities will deepen the Tebrau River to prevent flash floods from recurring.

Anisah Pardi, 48, said flash floods in the area often occured as their houses are close to the river.

The housewife who lives in Kampung Pasir Tebrau said continuous heavy rain from 11pm last night had caused the river water to overflow into the villagers’ homes, forcing them to evacuate around 2.30am in the morning.

"It’s been a long time since this river has not been widened or deepened, the last time seems to have been many years ago. Yesterday, at around 12.30am just past midnight, river water entered my house through the kitchen and rose so quickly up to window level reaching one metre deep at 2.30am,” she told Bernama at the temporary evacuation centre (PPS) of SK Bukit Mutiara here today.

The mother of one child said that Kampung Kangkar Tebrau which was inundated was close to the river.

However, she praised the authorities for acting quickly in ordering residents to evacuate immediately at midnight yesterday.

In unison with Anisah, Murad Yunus, 54, who is a resident of Kampung Paya Kenangan, said the river water overflowed into his house and rose about one metre at 3am, before receding five hours later.

However, he said flash floods could happen again at any time if it rains heavily today.

"For that reason, I hope that this river can be deepened and widened as soon as possible, seeing that it has breached its banks twice this year,” he said.

Earlier, heavy rain since last night caused five villages in this district, namely Kampung Paya Kenangan, Kampung Pasir Tebrau, Kampung Kangkar Tebrau, Kampung Sentosa Damai and Kampung Sentosa Barat to be flooded with several rivers monitored at danger level and alert level.

Following that, 538 people from 158 families in the five villages were evacuated to two PPS — Dewan Muafakat Kampung Cahaya Baru and SK Bukit Mutiara — which opened at 8am and 10am respectively. — Bernama