MIRI – Floods in northern Sarawak have worsened with thousands more people affected, including those in the mountainous areas of Bario and Ba’kelalan.
There are reports of bridges being swept away as floods up to 3m high hit Baram, hundreds of acres of farmland in Ba’kelalan, and schools, clinics, and housing settlements in other districts.
Datuk Nelson Balang Rining, People’s Progressive Party (PDP) secretary-general and a Ba’kelalan native, told The Vibes today that the situation is extremely bad with thousands of people in his area getting cut off.
“Timber roads have turned into rivers. Housing settlements and huge areas of farmland are drowned in waters of about one to two metres. The flooding is massive, one of the worst in living memory.”
Balang said his party members are trying to get details of all the flooded settlements to find out how many people are being affected.
“The rain was extremely heavy over the past day or two. The rivers rose very fast too, and the volume of rain and overflowing river waters made the floods so severe,” he said.
Balang is also the PDP divisional chief for Lawas district.
Lawas district saw about 350 people from several villages evacuated to community halls turned into flood relief shelters.
The districts of Medamit and Trusan are also badly hit, said Balang.
In Baram district located about 200km inland from Miri city, more than two dozen populated localities are seeing floods.
Updates from the Sarawak State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) and Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department showed that many longhouses and riverine settlements are being flooded, several of them under three metres of water.
The worst-hit are Long Panai, Long Lellang, Long Akar, Long Napir, Long Laput, Long Miri, Long Iman, Long Luteng, Long Atip, Long Moh, and Long Lama.
Many schools in these localities are flooded too.
The SDMC secretariat said Civil Defence units are on the ground already.
“Those involved in the flood operations also included the fire and rescue teams at the affected districts, police, Welfare Department, and local councils,” it said.
Those in flooded longhouses have moved to the second level of their longhouses.
There are also those who have moved to higher ground on the nearby hills.
The SDMC said among the schools covered by floods in Baram are SK Long Moh, SK Long Atip, SK Long Luteng, and SK Long Lellang.
Over in Mulu district, Kg Melinau, Kg Batu Bungan, SK Batu Bungan, Mulu Clinic and its vicinity are all flooded.
As at noon today, there have been no reports of fatalities or serious injuries caused by these floods.
The torrential rain in the interior started early yesterday, and deteriorated further and continued until now. – Bernama, May 21, 2021
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