KOTA KINABALU: Res­id­ents of Kam­pung Ram­payan Laut in Sabah are grap­pling with the after­math of the worst flood in over 50 years.

Incess­ant rain on Sat­urday even­ing caused flood­wa­ters to rise rap­idly in the vil­lage, catch­ing many res­id­ents off guard and leav­ing many homes sub­merged in waist-high water.

Jali­nah Md Jali, 62, said many vil­la­gers were unable to save their belong­ings, unlike in pre­vi­ous flood­ing incid­ents. “Dur­ing nor­mal floods, the water would usu­ally remain out­side and did not enter the house.

“This is because the water has to over­come the front door bar­rier,” she told Bernama while clean­ing mud and remov­ing water from her liv­ing room.

“On Sat­urday, the water reached waist height,” Jali­nah added. She did not have time to save her valu­ables and her fur­niture and elec­trical items were dam­aged.

“Ini­tially, every­one thought it would be just a nor­mal flood as the water level was low. “But the flood­wa­ters rose very fast. I am very sad because I have lived here for over 60 years and have never seen a flood this severe,” she added.

Jali­nah lamen­ted that Kam­pung Ram­payan Laut is now bet­ter known for fre­quent flood­ing than for devel­op­ment.

She said she hoped that local rep­res­ent­at­ives and rel­ev­ant agen­cies would find long-term solu­tions to flood­ing.

Another vic­tim, Jali Jawi, 52, said the flood­wa­ters came into the vil­lage from two dif­fer­ent sources sim­ul­tan­eously.

“The flood was big­ger and worse than before. The water came not just from the land but also from the sea,” he said.

He added that water began rising around 5.30pm and only receded early yes­ter­day morn­ing.

A check by Bernama revealed that flood­wa­ters had receded to ankle level, with most of the area still covered in thick mud, mak­ing clean­ing dif­fi­cult.

Dam­aged fur­niture and house­hold items car­ried away by the flood were scattered in front of sev­eral houses, while res­id­ents were busy remov­ing mud from their homes and dry­ing salvaged items.

Accord­ing to the Sabah State Dis­aster Man­age­ment Com­mit­tee, the num­ber of flood vic­tims rose from 282 on Sat­urday to 495 yes­ter­day morn­ing. The vic­tims are cur­rently sheltered at two relief centres.

In Kota Kin­abalu, 180 vic­tims from 46 fam­il­ies are cur­rently housed in a hall at the Al-munir Mosque, while 315 vic­tims from 113 fam­il­ies in Beaufort are being sheltered at the Selagon Evac­u­ation Centre.

KUALA BERANG: The dis­aster relief centre at SMK Matang here has been fully upgraded from a tem­por­ary centre to a per­man­ent one and is now ready for use, says National Dis­aster Man­age­ment Agency.

Its dir­ector-gen­eral, Meor Ismail Meor Akim, said the upgrad­ing works involved con­vert­ing an unused hostel block at the school into a per­man­ent dis­aster relief centre, car­ried out from July to Decem­ber last year at a cost of about RM907,000.

He said it is the third such centre com­pleted nation­wide, fol­low­ing the com­ple­tion of two sim­ilar centres in Johor – at Dewan Taman Kota Jaya and Dewan Arena Segit­iga in Kota Tinggi.

“We plan to cre­ate 15 per­man­ent dis­aster relief centres nation­wide, either through new con­struc­tion or by upgrad­ing exist­ing tem­por­ary centre facil­it­ies, and this is the third to be com­pleted after the two in Johor.

“We aim to ensure greater com­fort for flood vic­tims, and we also hope the centre can be util­ised out­side the flood sea­son so that it does not become a wasted facil­ity,” he told report­ers after attend­ing the han­dover cere­mony of the relief centre here yes­ter­day, repor­ted Bernama.

Meor Ismail said the relief centre, which can accom­mod­ate more than 200 flood vic­tims at any one time, is equipped with improved facil­it­ies, includ­ing dis­ab­il­ity-friendly toi­lets.

The centre com­prises seven rooms and a stor­age area that can serve as a for­ward base for essen­tial sup­plies and food dis­tri­bu­tion dur­ing flood emer­gen­cies.

Mean­while, he said all rel­ev­ant agen­cies are on full alert in pre­par­a­tion for the next phase of the north-east mon­soon, which is expec­ted to begin today.

“Sev­eral states are cur­rently exper­i­en­cing floods, and this is only the middle of the mon­soon sea­son. Another surge of heavy rain is fore­cast, and all agen­cies have been on standby since the early stages,” he added.

KOTA KINABALU: Jumlah mangsa banjir di dua buah daerah di negeri ini iaitu Beaufort dan Kota Kinabalu meningkat kepada 498 orang berbanding 190 mangsa semalam.

Mengikut info Pusat Kawalan Banjir Sabah hari ini mangsa membabitkan 114 ketua isi rumah di Beaufort dan 46 ketua isi rumah di Kota Kinabalu.

Dua pusat pemindahan sementara (PPS) disediakan kepada mangsa iaitu di Dewan Slagon, Beaufort dan Dewan Masjid Al Munir, Darau, Kota Kinabalu.

Dalam perkembangan berkaitan, cuaca di beberapa daerah di negeri ini, berada dalam keadaan tidak menentu dalam beberapa hari.

Jabatan Meteorologi Sabah meramalkan, hujan dan ribut petir kerap berlaku di hampir semua kawasan di negeri ini, termasuk Beaufort yang sedang dilanda banjir.

Sehubungan itu, penduduk terutama yang mendiami kawasan yang mudah dinaiki air dinasihatkan sentiasa berhati-hati dan pindah ke tempat selamat apabila ada tanda paras air meningkat. – UTUSAN 

KOTA KINABALU, 4 Jan — Sabah Deputy Chief Minister III and Minister of Industrial Development, Entrepreneurship, and Transportation, Datuk Ewon Benedick, has proposed that the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (Kuskop) continue implementing a loan repayment moratorium to assist entrepreneurs affected by disasters.

He said the move is in line with the state government’s efforts to ensure that micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) remain competitive despite facing unforeseen challenges.

“Previously, financing agencies under Kuskop implemented a policy of granting moratoriums or loan repayment flexibility, including payment deferments of up to a maximum of six months for affected entrepreneurs.

“In this regard, I will seek confirmation from Kuskop on whether this policy is still ongoing or otherwise,” he said in a statement today.

Ewon added that his ministry would also propose to Kuskop that the joint committee established previously be maintained to ensure the coordination of entrepreneurship development is implemented more effectively.

He noted that the establishment of the committee is vital not only for coordinating entrepreneur development programs but also for addressing issues related to calamities and disasters that directly impact business continuity. — Bernama