‘This has been the worst flood’: Melaka flood victims spend first three days of 2022 at relief centre
FLOODS ARE REGULAR OCCURRENCE: VILLAGER
Mdm Suhaiti Ariffin, who has served as secretary for Kampung Gadek’s village development and security committee for over 10 years, said floods were a regular occurrence.
“If the rain falls non-stop between two and four hours, it will definitely flood, more so because this place is a meeting point for the Melaka and Tampin rivers.”
“There’s a critical level indicator and if the waters hit that level, we get a siren alarm to warn everyone,” she said.
Mdm Suhaiti said the village’s disaster sub-committee would start moving people out in vehicles before the floods cut off roads, and after that, they have to depend on boats from the Civil Defence Department and Fire and Rescue Department.
Although villagers are used to this routine, she said, the village committee had been working on trying to eliminate or at least manage the flood problem, such as upgrading the river bunds and embankments.
“But this is also costly, so the government helps where it is able in raising the embankments. At least to slow down the flood waters.”
Besides upgrading the embankments, the village community had also been working with the local government on raising the road levels, Mdm Suhaiti added.
Local volunteer Addy Zulkarnain Ismail, who has been living in Gadek for over 30 years, said it was now routine for him and his volunteer friends to drive their pick-up trucks to help evacuate flood victims every time the river water levels rise.
“It is pitiful, because once the waters go down, (the residents) have to come back and clean up.
“We need to help repair or restore the river and drainage here, so that at least the river waters are more stable, and then we can eliminate or at least reduce the number of flood occurrences,” he said.
Artmotion Asia
