MARANG: More than 50 residents in Kampung Rawai here are facing hardship in carrying out their daily routines as they are virtually living life in a pond of as murky waters from monsoonal floods and downpours that started almost a month ago, have remained stagnant.
Mohd Zaid Ngah, 52, a resident affected by the situation said the stagnant floodwaters surrounding about 11 houses in the village was due to blocked waterways and drainage systems, which he blamed on a development project nearby.
Accordingly, Zaid, who is a stroke survivor, has been unable to wade out to seek treatment and buy food because the road leading to-and-from his house has been inundated up to thigh-level since Terengganu was hit by the first wave of monsoonal floods on Nov 20.
“When it pours, the water will rise to waist-high on the road and now it only recedes to thigh level. So it’s impassable for my car. For almost a month, I have not even gone out to get a massage to treat my left hand and leg that were immobilised due to a stroke in 2019.
“The food stock at home is nearly wiped out, only rice is left since my other two younger brothers who live with me cannot leave the house either,” he told Bernama here today.
Housewife Ramlah Sidek, 45, ruminating how the floodwaters had turned into a pool for nearly a month said this was her first such encounter since living in the area nine years ago.
“Previously, we have encountered floods that would rise up to calf level inside the house and waist high in the yard. But the water would recede quickly in two or three days, not lasting a month like this.
“In fact, I have to carry my nine-year-old daughter out of the house to school every day because her clothes would otherwise get wet, while my 16-year-old daughter has to wear slippers to school,” she said.
Ramlah said due to the calf-high water pool in front of her home, she was forced to leave her car at a higher place about 300 metres from her house.
She said this situation made it difficult to bring her eldest daughter Nur Nabila Syuhada Sufian, 17, who is also physically disabled (OKU) to undergo check-ups at the hospital with the constant fear that her daughter would experience a seizure while wading through the water.
In another corner of the village, housewife Siti Aisyah Awang, 38, said she continues to worry about the health of her three daughters, aged between nine years and two months old, because they have to wade through floodwaters that stink due to a septic tank located in front of their house, overflowing.
“In fact, one of my kids suffered skin problems on her feet recently, what with all the wading in dirty water. As for me, having just delivered at the end of October, I too have to wade through floodwater every day for two weeks now, huddling the baby to bring her to the clinic because of yellow fever,” she lamented.
Accordingly, Siti Aisyah also joined the village chorus, appealing to the Terengganu authorities to take immediate action to solve their woes, including expanding and maintaining the drainage system in the village. - Bernama
