KUCHING: A phone call by a neighbour has prompted a 36-year-old woman to save extra time for her family to evacuate their home before the flood water level rose.
Jasima Sahril was sleeping with her husband and four children (aged five to twelve) at the time of the incident at their house in Taman Malihah on Wednesday.
“My family and I were fast asleep when I received a phone call from my neighbour around 12am, informing me about the flash flood.
“After that I went up to check that the flood water has already entered our house. From then on, I immediately woke up my husband and children and evacuated the house,” she told New Sarawak Tribune when met at the evacuation centre at SJK (C) Chung Hua Sungai Tengah at Jalan Sejijak here on Friday (Jan 15).
She said that during the night of the incident, she sent her children to her friend’s house before registering at the evacuation centre in Taman Malihah.
“The same night I also went back to my house to get the important documents. That was when I saw the water level has risen up to my waist which is about one meter high,” she added.
She explained that it wasn’t the first time the house was affected by flood but this year’s disaster was definitely worse than previous years.
“Initially, my family was well prepared for the flood season and we are always on alert for updates from television and social media.
“We even cleaned the house and made sure that the important things are kept at high places such as our refrigerator and television.
“However, everything seems to be in vain as the water level rose quickly. A lot of our properties cannot be saved,” she pointed out.
The family was evacuated to Taman Malihah before being moved to a new evacuation centre at SJK (C) Chung Hua Sungai Tengah after the first centre was also flooded on Thursday.
