KUCHING: There is no escape from floods, even at evacuation centres.
A community hall in Taman Malihah, which had earlier been converted into a flood relief centre, was inundated yesterday, forcing flood evacuees to move to another area.
They are now being housed temporarily at SJK(C) Chung Hua Sungai Tengah.
Sarawak Civil Defence Force director Mohtar Samat said the incident caught him off guard as the Taman Malihah hall had long been used as an evacuation centre and gazetted as a temporary relief facility for flood victims.
“A total of 209 victims from 48 families had to be evacuated as the hall was unsafe,” he told Bernama yesterday.
Mohtar said this was the first time in Sarawak where people had to be moved from an evacuation centre.
He said floodwaters had reached knee depth when the evacuation process began.
“It has been years, and dozens of times, this hall has been used to house flood victims but this time, it posed a challenge to all evacuees and personnel managing the evacuation process,” he said.
One of the evacuees, Kasmawati Ram, 29, said she and her children were asleep when she was jolted awake by cold water.
“I told my children to pack up their belongings and we left our tent to move to an elevated section for safety,” said the mother of five, aged eight months to nine years.
Another evacuee, Meliah Ekram, 62, said she was traumatised as she had just moved into the evacuation centre on Wednesday after her house in Taman Malihah Phase 1 was flooded up to the waist.
“I was worried because this centre is (supposed to be) a safe place but then it also flooded, but with the help of security personnel, we are all safe.”
