Flooding forces Taman Malihah evacuees to relocate to new centre

Sarawak Civil Defence Force (APM) director Mohtar Samat said the incident caught him off guard as the Taman Malihah hall had long been used as a PPS and it had also been gazetted as a temporary relief centre for flood victims.

“A total of 209 victims from 48 families were involved in the evacuation process carried out as soon as the hall was identified as unsafe,” he told Bernama when met at the PPS today.

Mohtar said that this was the first time of such incident to occur in Sarawak when a PPS had to be moved due to flooding up to ankle level.

“It has been years and dozens of times this hall has been used to house flood victims but this time it poses a bit of a challenge to all evacuees and personnel involved including from APM, Fire and Rescue Department, People's Volunteer Corps (RELA), and the Social Welfare Department to find a new PPS,” he said.

Meanwhile, one of the evacuees, Kasmawati Ram, 29, said she was shocked because she and her children were asleep when the centre started to be flooded and jolted awake by cold water.

“I quickly told my children to start packing their belongings and left our tent to move to the elevated section for safety,” said the mother of five, aged between eight months and nine.

Another evacuee, Meliah Ekram, 62, said that she was a bit traumatised as she just moved to PPS yesterday after her house in Taman Malihah Phase 1 was flooded up to waist level.

“I feel a bit worried because this centre is safe place but then it is also flooded, but with the help of security personnel on duty here, we are all safe,” she said.