30 Pitas villages said cut off by floods
More than 30 villages in Pitas are said to have been cut off by worsening floods that have affected about 50 villages in the district, forcing victims to seek accommodation at relatives’ houses and evacuation centres.
KOTA KINABALU: Hundreds of families in Pitas live under the threat of Covid-19 infection, especially with the worsening flood siuation in several villages, forcing victims to seek accommodation at relatives’ houses and evacuation centres.
It is almost impossible to observe physical distancing during the emergency situation, especially in crowded places where SOPs are not treated as a priority.
When rain started pouring heavily on Monday, several roads were rendered inaccessible and even worse, communication was cut off due to the poor network coverage.
According to a disaster relief volunteer, about 50 villages in Pitas are said to be affected by the floods, with more than 30 inaccessible, as many roads are currently submerged.
Jamaluddin Kamal, 38, who helped to evacuate about 10 families in Kampung Kusilad Pitas on Tuesday said it was his first experience witnessing a flood like this, where he was hoping the Sabah Civil Defence Force (APM) would come with rescue boats to help.
“The situation was so bad on Tuesday morning because roads were inaccessible, there is no network coverage and we don’t have proper boats to evacuate the villagers.
“When the rain did not show any sign of stopping, we didn’t have much choice but to use a personal ‘sampan’ belonging to the villagers and I started evacuating our relatives and friends in the morning to a safer place, while some of them decided to stay at the evacuation centre.
“I managed to commute more than 10 families, about 50 people on Tuesday. Luckily, the rain started to stop today (Wednesday),” he said when connected yesterday.
Jamaluddin and his friends managed to get three sampans to evacuate villagers in Kampung Kusilad and nearby villagers from Kampung Dandun and Kampung Pandan.
With the announcement of Movement Control Order (MCO) and the current pandemic, Jamaluddin said he is aware that most of the districts in Sabah are red zones, but SOP is something totally forgotten during a flood situation.
“I am hoping food assistance, clothing and hygiene kit will arrive soon because we are all in need of these immediately,” he said.
As of yesterday, it was believed that there are three temporary evacuation centres in Pitas, namely Dewan Kampung Kusilad, SK Pekan Pitas II and SK Salimpodon, with at least 100 victims.
Some victims refused to stay at the evacuation centres as they wanted to save their belongings and clear their muddy houses.
On social media, netizens have shared a number of landslide pictures and images of collapsed roads in Kampung Tambilidon, Kampung Sosop, Jalan Sosop Bai and Jalan Mangkubau Laut.
A bridge, Jambatan Gumpa in Jalan Telaga was also badly damaged.