KOTA BARU – A family from Kg Surau Kota here is living with anxiety as the kitchen of the house they have lived in for almost 40 years collapsed due to the erosion along the banks of Sg Kelantan following the floods.
Rosmah Deraman, 48, said that in the incident at about 7pm yesterday, the four pillars in the kitchen collapsed and caused the wooden floor to become uneven.
“At the time of the incident, I had just returned from Wakaf Che Yeh (market) and received a call from my son, Nik Mohd Amirul Aiman Nik Lah, 15, telling me that the back of the house has been washed away by strong river currents during the flood.
“Thankfully, my children Nik Amirul, Nik Siti Norhidayah Nik Lah, 27, and two grandchildren, Nik Muhammad Adam Darwisy Nik Hilmi Khoidir, 6, and Nik Nur Izara Aisyah, 3, managed to escape after hearing a loud bang and found the land behind the house sliding away slowly,” she said when met in Kg Surau Kota today.
Rosmah said the river erosion behind her house was found to have occurred over the past six years, which was most noticeable after the great Bah Kuning (yellow-coloured) 2014 flood, and now the distance between the house and the river is only 0.3m.
Rosmah, who sells newspapers at the Wakaf Che Yeh wholesale market here, said that before the erosion, the house was built far from the cliff, which is 500m from the site of the house, but it eroded little by little every time there was a flood.
“When the monsoon season arrives, my family and I do not sleep well because we are too worried about the house being washed away by the river. Now what we feared has happened and we are lucky because a few villagers allowed us to move into an empty house at midnight yesterday.
“This situation adds to the additional anxiety I have from suffering from thyroid disease since 1997 and chronic asthma,” she said.
She has appealed for a house from relevant parties because her income is only RM20 a day while her husband Nik Lah Su, 49, earns an average of just RM400 a month cutting trees.
In Kuala Krai, more than 100 residents of Kg Gilat are facing difficulty getting food supplies when the road, which is their main connecting route, was flooded with water three metres deep following the third wave of floods since Wednesday.
Resident Faridah Mat Sin, 61, said she and her family only had light meals the past few days with the food supply they have, which they have to ration in case it runs out.
“Thankfully, donations arrived on time (today) just as when we were in dire need. This is the first contribution received by the villagers here who have had their food supply cut off since Wednesday,” said Faridah.
Earlier, she and other residents received donations of basic necessities via McDonald’s Malaysia Flood Mission in collaboration with the Kuala Krai police station. The event was attended by Kuala Krai district head Tengku Ab Rahman Yunus, Kuala Krai district police chief Suzaimi Mohamad and McDonald’s Malaysia East Coast Division Operations manager Safna Sepian.
Another resident of the same village, Safiah Ibrahim, 45, said she is grateful for the help of essential items provided because it has eased the burden of her family, especially in facing the flood disaster.
“It’s more worrying because I have an 18-year-old with special needs, but I can now breathe a sigh of relief,” she said.
Meanwhile, Safna said the flood relief mission this time focused on people who were cut off by the floods and were in need of dry goods, medicines, and so on. – Bernama, January 11, 2021
