Supermarket, hotel among premises affected in Tawau flash flood
TAWAU: Servay Jaya Supermarket, Eastern Cineplex and the four-star Promenade Hotel Tawau, which are situated in Eastern Plaza, Jalan Kuhara here were among business premises worst affected by the flash flood on Friday.
Besides, power disruption in the area had yet to be restored yesterday following the flash flood on Friday.
Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister cum Sri Tanjong assemblyman Datuk Jimmy Wong said the flash flood had destroyed many items on the ground floor of Servay Jaya Supermarket, resulting in the temporary closure of the supermarket for a minimum of 10 days.
It is learnt that the supermarket opened its business at Eastern Plaza in 2009 and it was also affected by flash floods previously, but the latest one was the worst.
Currently, floodwater remained on the ground floor of the building, thus the supermarket management was forced to rent a water pump from the District Fire and Rescue Department to remove the water.
The Promenade Hotel Tawau had arranged and transferred more than 20 China tourists to a nearby hotel because of the power outage, Jimmy said.
He said he was informed that the management of Sabah Urban Development Corporation (SUDC) did not send out its officers to Eastern Plaza for inspection after the flooding and most of the business operators in the plaza were disappointed with SUDC.
Jimmy also disclosed that Eastern Plaza is situated near Tawau River and it is always affected directly if there were floods due to its low terrain.
He asked for help from the government through the Department of Irrigation and Drainage to build river embankment along Tawau River to prevent flash flood at Eastern Plaza.