Flood: CNY bus ticket goes down the drain

Tan Boon Sui was supposed to board the bus to return to his hometown in Bachok, Kelantan for Chinese New Year today, but the plan went down the drain as his house in Kampung Sungai Lik, here was flooded knee-high.

In fact, the 77-year-old man said the bus ticket to Bachok, which he bought two weeks ago, was the first thing he grabbed when he was asked to evacuate the house, before he realised that it was of no use.

"I cannot leave the house like this. Even of the flood water receded before the Chinese New Year, I still have to clean it up...and it cannot be done in a day," he told Bernama here Tuesday.

Tan, however, was grateful that only he was left at the house as the rest of his family members had safely returned to Bachok to prepare for the new year celebration.

"If we made the preparations here, I'm sure we would have suffered more losses," said the rubber tapper who would spend the night at the relief centre with two other affected families.

Meanwhile, Rosmawati Che Seman, 36, said her family became the first to be evacuated due to floods in the district Tuesday.

She said she could hardly sleep the night before due to the continuous heavy rain and the fact that her house was located near a river which had overflowed.

At 6 am, Rosmawati said her husband Zambri Ibrahim decided to evacuate the house for fear of the safety of their small children as their kitchen had already been flooded knee-high.

"We didn't bring anything when we left the house, but the Civil Defence Force members helped bringing us home for a while to get the important documents and some daily necessities, such as diapers and food supplies for the kids," she said. -- Bernama