KUALA TERENGGANU, Nov 23 — Using only plasticine worth less than RM10, a resident of Kampung Padang Gong Pak Maseh here successfully saved most of her furniture and household items from severe damage due to floods.
Norlida Ramli, 49, said the idea was sparked by her husband Wan Azmadi Wan Abdul Razak, 51, who is a carpenter, after all the furniture in their house were damaged by flooding in 2019.
“In 2019, not only the furniture were damaged but also my husband’s mobile phone repair shop located next to this house was submerged, damaging all the new mobile phones for sale and the mobile phones left by customers for repairs.
“At that time, the loss was over RM10,000, causing the shop to be closed until now because my husband had no capital to start the business again,” she said when met by Bernama here today.
Norlida said since the monsoon season in 2020, her husband has been using plasticine purchased at a cheap goods store for RM2.40 per two boxes and sticking it to holes around the plywood walls installed on the front and back fences of the house.
She said her husband only used five boxes of the children’s play thing, and it successfully reduced the overflow of water into the house.
“Before using plasticine, water would enter the house up to knee level, and all the furniture would be damaged, forcing us to buy new ones. The losses were over RM10,000.
“But since plugging the holes under the plywood with plasticine, we have saved a lot every time it floods because not much furniture and household items are damaged. Water only overflows into the house up to the calf level,” she said.
She said the proven effective method has also become a reference for residents there, and some of her neighbours have used the same method.
Norlida, who just returned after taking shelter at the Temporary Evacuation Centre (PPS) SK Gong Tok Nasek, said her husband started sticking plasticine on the walls of the fences last Sunday night with the help of their two children, before the house was flooded on Monday morning.
Norlida, who works as a cleaner at Wisma Darul Iman here, admitted that she has become accustomed to the flood situation she experiences every year since living there 14 years ago.
However, she said that in the past two to three years, floods in her village have become increasingly severe due to the increasing density of residential settlements. — Bernama
