MARANG: More than 10 houses were severely damaged due to a storm in Kampung Padang Mengkuang, Berangan near here at 3.30pm on Wednesday (May 17).
A victim, Ambak Mohd, 79, said he and three other family members were resting at home after lunch when a strong wind suddenly swept through his house, causing a large part of the roof to be torn off.
"At that time, the rain was not too heavy, but the wind was powerful, and the loud noise was scary. My son quickly told us to get out of the house because he was worried that the roof would fall on us,” he said when met at his house on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, preparations for the Aidilfitri open house by Terengganu state government subsidiary TDM Berhad with the community of Marang district were also affected when five large tents were blown away by the wind.
Pengkalan Berangan assemblyman Sulaiman Sulong said apart from the tents, the main stage, which took four hours to set up, also collapsed in the incident.
"All the tent and stage installation work was completed in the morning (yesterday) because the Aidilfitri open house is on Thursday (May 18).
"Out of the seven tents, only two are usable. We also had to mobilise more manpower to rebuild the stage and tents for the open house,” he said when met at the venue in Kampung Padang Mengkuang.
Sulaiman said he was thankful that no one was injured in the incident.
"There were several staff at the scene when the storm hit, but they all managed to run to safety and take shelter inside the mosque,” he said.
He also said that all damaged houses would be repaired immediately and appropriate assistance would be managed by the Pengkalan Berangan State Assembly Community Service Centre.
