Flood victim gets ready for the worst every time it pours

GEORGE TOWN: Watching videos of flood victims over social media has brought back haunting memories for Mabel Chua.

The former advertising sales support executive of The Star was herself a victim of the massive floods that hit Penang in 2017, with water reaching up to her chin at one point.

“It pains me to see the flood victims in affected states going through this difficult time. Besides the losses, there is plenty of cleaning and washing to do in the aftermath,” said the 49-year-old, who lived in Lengkok P. Ramlee, one of the flood-prone areas in Penang.

In 2017, Chua and her family – her then 78-year-old mother, 80-year-old aunt and 65-year-old uncle – were stuck on the elevated floor of their home as the water levels rose.

They were rescued four hours later by the Fire and Rescue Department.

Chua said it was the worst flood they had faced in the 40 years she had lived there.

Now she stayed up whenever it rained at night.

“I’ll be worried every time it rains in the middle of the night. I’ll just stay up to see if I need to move things and evacuate. But since 2017, the drainage was upgraded and I believe that helps a lot.

“There was a downpour last month and I was preparing for the worst. But only my garden was flooded, and the water did not enter the house,” she said.

Chua isn’t alone with her fears as the recent massive inundation in various parts of the country sent jitters that the floods could now hit the northern states despite the Meteorological Department having withdrawn its warning of continuous rain on Tuesday.

For Peter Tan, the pain and sorrow of losing an inmate in the 2017 floods led to his decision to close down two old folks homes in Jalan P. Ramlee and Lengkok P. Ramlee.

He has since moved his operation to a house in Jalan Van Praagh.

“I’ll always remember that day when we lost Madam Lau Guek Jee in the floods. Every time I think of the incident, it breaks my heart.

“I did not sleep for over two days when the incident happened. Thankfully, we received help and made it through,” he said, adding that he would join some agencies in heading to Selangor this weekend to send aid to flood victims.

Tan said at their new premises, they would be on guard whenever there was continuous heavy rain.

“We have frequent checks and make sure the water level does not rise when it rains. So far, there has not been any floods,” he said.

State infrastructure and flood mitigation committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari said the state government has implemented eight high impact projects amounting to Rm150mil since 2018.

“A total of 189 small projects amounting to Rm56.4mil were also carried out at the same time,” he said.

“The state government has spent over Rm200mil for flood mitigation projects between 2018 and this year.

“All these projects have helped to mitigate and reduce the intensity of flooding in Penang. There is still work that needs to be done, but it has improved,” he added.

Penang Fire and Rescue Department director Saadon Mokhtar said it was well prepared if the northern states were hit by bad weather.

“We have 708 Fire and Rescue personnel from 20 fire stations in the state and 31 aluminium boats ready to be deployed at any time,” he said.

“We also have 40 different types of vehicles to aid in our rescue operations as well as 20 scuba sets, and over 600 life jackets apart from other floating equipment,” he added.