SEGAMAT, March 5 — Bekok residents here would have never expected their area to be hit by floods as it has never happened since 2006 whenever it rains.

Kampung Melayu Baru Bekok head Azhar Kamisan said the last time there was flooding in the area was 17 years ago. Even when there was continuous heavy rain and the Sungai Bekok overflowed its banks, it did not cause flooding.

“The flooding this time took residents by surprise. Many of them have been evacuated to temporary relief centres at Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Bekok after flood waters rose at about 4am last Wednesday.

“Many of the victims were from Rumah Rakyat Bekok, an area close to Sungai Bekok,” he told Bernama when met today.

Azhar, 60, said that after 17 years, the floods this time around were really bad with many roads submerged causing residents to lose road connectivity and the situation looks like residents are living on an island.

He said apart from Rumah Rakyat Bekok, other areas affected by the floods are Kampung Pancha Jaya and Kampung Orang Asli, here, where some houses have been affected and main roads closed to traffic due to a collapsed bridge.

“On the first day (Wednesday) of the floods, Bekok residents were unable to move out of their area as the main bridge was also flooded, with flood waters only receding the next day. It looks like we are living on an island because we cannot leave as all access routes have been cut off,” he said.

As of today, a total of 340 individuals from 149 families are still being housed in the relief centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Bekok.

Meanwhile, resident, Noraini Abdullah, 33, said the continuous heavy rain in January did not cause any flooding but this time around it is different.

She also said the heavy rain for two days since Monday caused the flood waters to rise up to thigh- level in her house in Rumah Rakyat Bekok.

“When the river overflowed its banks at about 3am, my family was asleep but I heard people making noise outside... this is when I realised the house was flooded,” added the mother of five, aged three to 13. — Bernama