Floods: 480 victims in Kemabong evacuated
Published on: Friday, December 20, 2019
TENOM: Some 480 flood victims in Kemabong, including a disabled child in Kg Maugus, were evacuated to six temporary relief centres while 100 household heads in Melalap were evacuated to their respective centres, Thursday.
The relief centres allocated for the Kemabong constituency is located in Kg Maugus, Kg Gumisi Ulu, Kg Gumisi Laut, Kg Labut 2, Kg Lalandang and Kg Angalor.
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For the Melalap state constituency, the respective centres are in Kg Pontongon Saga with 11 households, Kg Ponotomon with 78 and Kg Pantungon with 11.
There were no fatalities so far.
The Padas and Pegalan river basins are reported to be 174 meters high and are classified on the alert stage.
A flood relief cum operations room was opened at around 8 am, Thursday, and several government agencies besides the APM as well as Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) are monitoring the situation.
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Kemabong Assemblyman Jamawi Jaafar advised villagers staying near the river to follow instructions of the authorities and contact the respective MPKK councils if there is need for help.
In LABUAN, non-stop rain caused flash floods in several villages here with Kg Rancha-Rancha Darat being worst hit with six houses there being partially submerged in water.
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Labuan experienced heavy downpour since the last few days, with the monsoon drains overflowing to several low-lying areas up to knee-high.
“Roads were blocked due to rising water and we were not able to go out of our houses. My wife and I had to move our children, important belongings and documents to my mother-in-law’s house next door,” an affected victim, Mohd Rezuan Abd Hassan, told Bernama.
The six affected families (from the six affected houses) blamed the clogged monsoon drains which had not been maintained for the past years as the source of the problem.
“The floods had been going on for the past 15 years the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) has built the monsoon drain at the backyard to drain out the floodwater but in vain,” Rezuan said.
Wooden furniture including cabinet and refrigerators belonging to the victims were among items that were destroyed in last night’s floods.
“I was lucky I drove out my car to higher ground during the floods, as the water was raising to hip level I asked the DID officers who should be blamed for this floods, but they blamed other authorities leaving us in quandary.
“We experienced flash floods here for years now it happens every year around this time, however, this round is the worst as the bulk of my furniture had been damaged.
“I hope I can salvage most of it last year, only my kitchen was affected,” he said.
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