PITAS – While their homes flooded, more than a thousand villagers from ten areas here have also been disconnected from the main road, after a bridge and a road were damaged by floods on Tuesday.
An affected villager, Allyson Matibin, said living in a flooded house was one thing, but worrying about whether food stock would be sufficient for the whole family was another problem.
He said some villagers had started asking for food from other houses out of desperation.
“The road that is damaged from the village is about 3km away. Sure, we can walk there, but we are still disconnected from the “outside world” as the bridge that is 17km away from our village has collapsed,” he said.
Matibin pleaded for assistance from the government as soon as possible.
“As much as we fear for the unexpected weather to worsen the flood situation, we are more concerned if we will run out of food before assistance reaches us. We also wonder; are people going to save us when we are disconnected here?
“However, I would like to remind the relevant parties such as the Welfare Department that we are now reachable by boat. Please send us help as soon as possible,” he said.
The Vibes is currently reaching out to the Welfare Department for a response on this.
Meanwhile, State Works Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin said that the Public Works Department will be presenting him with the costs needed to fix the damaged bridge and the road in Pitas.
He said he had received reports of damaged roads and bridges in Pitas, Kota Marudu, and Beluran.
“Cleaning has been conducted in cases that are not serious. But we will work out the cost of the more serious cases to ensure that we can fix them, and that the villagers would be reconnected as soon as possible,” he said.
Bung asked all engineers in Public Works Department to be on standby for possibility of more of such cases happening, if it continues to rain heavily. – The Vibes, January 14, 2020
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