Kota Kinabalu: About 70 water village residents were made homeless when strong winds and high waves lashed the outer fringes of Kg Tanjung Aru Saturday, damaging several jetties which linked their homes built on stilts.More than 10 houses were either partially or completely damaged when the winds and waves swept through the village, consisting of Kg Tg Aru Baru and Kg Tg Aru Lama, at about 7.30am.
The villagers are now staying at the Tanjung Aru multi-purpose hall. Although there were no casualties, villagers feared that the bad weather might continue or even worsen and have since sought temporary residence at various locations provided.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin, who visited them, said he had asked State Secretary Datuk KY Mustafa, who is also the State Natural Disaster Committee Chairman, to send his officers to monitor the situation and provide the necessary assistance to affected families.
Yahya, who is also the State Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister, said a similar incident was reported at Meruntum, near Putatan here, but no residents there were evacuated.
Tanjung Aru Assemblyman, Edward Yong Oui Fah, said he was informed that the water level had risen unusually.
"More than 10 houses have been seriously affected due to this. All the others (residents) had to remove their wooden floors so that their houses would not be damaged further," he said.
"The residents found a main water pipe had burst (and) the Water Department had been called in as the area is facing a water shortage. City Hall has also come in to assist the villagers for evacuation," he said.
Yong said he would also be requesting funds from the Sabah Federal Development Department (JPPS) for the victims and that Putatan MP, Datuk Marcus Mojigoh, who also visited the village, had contacted the Welfare Department.
"The victims have been moved to a nearby mosque, balairaya and a multi-purpose hall near the old airport," he said. Those unaffected had also been advised to evacuate for at least a day or two.
"It is very unusual that this could happen in this monthÉnormally in September the weather is okay. The JKKK committee will hold a meeting to assess the damages and the extent of situationÉfrom there on we can work on how to help the victims," he said.
A forecaster from the Sabah Meteorological Services Department, Ibrahim Johari said the bad weather, a consequence of the Tropical Storm Vincente hitting the Philippines, is expected to continue at least until Monday.
He advised those residing at coastal areas to take precautionary measures such as shifting temporarily to safer locations.
"We actually sent out a first warning on Thursday when the condition of the weather was at Stage 1 with winds up to 40km per hour and waves reaching 3.5 metres.
"This morning we upgraded the warning to Stage 2 where winds were recorded between 50 and 60km per hour and waves reached up to 4.5 metres. We immediately notified the relevant departments at 7.35am," he said. However, Ibrahim believed that the condition would not develop into Stage 3 as the tropical storm is distant from the State and moving away in a West North-West direction.
