‘Floating village’ fears a second wave of floods
TUMPAT : Kampung Simpangan here has turned into a floating village.
Floodwaters have yet to subside since last Tuesday, and the majority of villagers are staying put in their homes instead of moving to evacuation centres.
Villager Mamat Jusoh, 58, said they were all used to the floods.
“We call this banjir termenung (stagnant flood), because the water remains
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stuck for a long time.
Kampung Simpangan, Tumpat.
“However, still waters do not pose much danger. It is only difficult to move around on foot,” he said, adding that most villagers have their own boats to get around and buy their daily provisions.
A flood usually lasts a few days here, with the water eventually draining into Sungai Golok, he said.
“But it remains flooded longer during major high tide, as water cannot flow to the estuary.”
Although the villagers are unperturbed by the flood, they are worried about a second wave.
“We hope it will not be as bad as the 2014 floods,” Mamat said.
In Kota Baru, it was reported that the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) has been instructed to pump out stagnant floodwater in Tumpat and Pasir Mas as quickly as possible.
National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) director-general Datuk Abd Rashid Harun said the situation must be addressed quickly to avoid a major disaster if a second wave of flooding hits during the anticipated massive high tide.
“Stagnant floodwater, massive high tide and heavy rain upstream could make things much worse.”
As at 3.30pm yesterday, only six evacuation centres remained open, housing 634 victims.
As at 3pm, the Sungai Golok level was 9.05m, slightly above the danger mark of 9m.
Sungai Galas in Dabong was at 33.42m and Sungai Kelantan at 20.21m, both above alert levels.
Only three roads – the 31st kilometre of Jalan Gua Musang-Jelawang-Dabong (Gua Musang), 0.5km of Kok Lanas-Selising (Kota Baru), and 14th-22nd kilometre of Jalan Pengkalan Kubor-Jeram Perdah (Pasir Mas) remained closed to traffic as at 5pm.