‘Felt like I was in a river,’ woman recalls ordeal in flooded village

TAMPIN, Nov 30 — A terrified senior citizen was relieved when rescuers plucked her from what felt like she was in the middle of a river, after being trapped in her house in Sungai Kelamah for several hours surrounded by two metres (m) of water.

Hashimah Ali, 65, said the flood this time was also bigger than the previous monsoon that claimed the life of her husband Rosli Roslan, 66, following a heart attack when he was wading through flood waters to get to his livestock pen two years ago.

“My late husband died here on Jan 1, 2022. I was reminded of that tragedy. I wasn’t traumatised because I had expected a flood, but I didn’t expect it to be so bad compared to the last two years. At 3.30 am today, I realised that the house was flooded after continuous rain.

“I kept calling for my friends because I couldn’t get out as the surrounding was flooded, it felt like I was marooned in a river, I was so happy to see the firefighters, and I and my family then got on a boat for 300m to move to the temporary relief centre at SK Gedok,” she said when met at the location here today.

In the meantime, head of Taman Pinggiran Sungai Kelamah, Mohd Azhari Mohd Diah, 56, said 80 per cent of the 317 homes were flooded after six hours of incessant rain, a situation he described as being worse than the one two years ago.

“In 2022, two of the 14 lanes of houses in the back area were flooded, but now 12 rows of houses are affected, the first siren sounded at about 2.30 am today, and we began packing up (but) I didn’t expect the water to rise so quickly.

“While waiting to be relocated to the relief centre, we cooked whatever food was available, if we hadn’t gone to the centre, we would only have had enough stocks to last for two meals. I fervently hoped for the rescuers to arrive before the waters reached the highway,” she said.

In another harrowing moment, the Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) evacuated 36 workers trapped in a chicken farm in Gemencheh after their SOS call came in at 9.50 am.

Operations chief Senior Fire Officer II Mohd Yazid Yaakob said the flood victims comprised 33 foreign men and three local women who were relocated to the SK Gedok relief centre.

He said a total of 11 personnel along with two engines, two boats and a Hicom lorry rushed to the scene to carry out the rescue work which ended at 1.10 pm. — Bernama