Five schools hit by flood

Five schools in the district of Kinta Utara here were affected by the flash floods that struck early this morning, following heavy downpour since midnight.

A spokesman for the State Education Department said the affected schools were SMK Seri Puteri, SK Tambun, SK Seri Mutiara, SJKC Min Sing and SJKC Hing Hwa.

"However, no untoward incident occurred and everything is back to normal now," he said when contacted here, today.

Elaborating, he said the department was alerted to the floods which occurred between 7am to 10am by the schools involved.

"We are also informed that employees from the Ipoh City Council (MBI) have helped all the schools, especially in terms of cleaning up the surroundings," he said.

Meanwhile, the headmistress of SK Seri Mutiara, Asiah Mohamad Sani said the school was prepared for all possibilities, in addition to directing staff to always place important documents in safe places.

She said the move was made following flash floods which occurred at the school on March 29, in which the school suffered losses and damage to important documents.

Commenting on the flash floods that occurred this morning, Asiah said she was informed by school staff that the ground floor had been inundated up to 0.5m as of 7am.

She said the water receded by about 11am, and today''s schooling session was cancelled for cleaning works to take place. The school reopens on Monday, she added. -BERNAMA