KOTA KINABALU: A four-hour downpour triggered a mudflow that damaged a host of fruit stalls in the hilly Ranau district, about 120km from here, on Thursday (Sept 21).
Heavy rain that started about 3pm also caused two roads to collapse including one leading to a popular highland resort in Mesilau which was located in the foothills of Mount Kinabalu.
Ranau Fire and Rescue chief Ridwan Mohd Taib said they received a call over the mud flow at about 4pm.
He said at least eight fruit stalls at Kampung Nabutan, off KM137 Jalan Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan, were severely affected by the flash flood that brought along mud and other debris.
"The mud flow was triggered due to heavy rain that lasted for some four hours from about 3pm," he said, when contacted on Friday (Sept 22).
Ridwan said the road concessionaire was later called in to clear the debris.
At the same time, he said, the fire department, along with the police and Civil Defence Force (APM) were at the scene to monitor the situation.
"There were no reports of injury in the mud flow.
"Likewise, we did not receive any report of people getting hurt elsewhere in Ranau and no one has been transferred to any disaster relief centre," he said.
Clips of the mud flow crashing into the stalls started making rounds in social media late Thursday evening.
Towards this end, Ridwan said the department together with other agencies were closely monitoring the weather situation in Ranau.
"It is still cloudy today but we are ready to act in case of any emergency," he said.
He said their Mountain Search and Rescue (Mosar) unit and Sabah Parks were also monitoring the safety situation on Mount Kinabalu after a water surge on the mountain top occured due to a downpour last week.
A downpour early Tuesday (Sept 12) morning in Kundasang caused a water surge from the top of Mount Kinabalu.
Sabah Parks, through its Facebook page, said strong currents due to the heavy rain that occurred between 5.50am and 7am, came gushing down to the Panalaban resting area at KM7.2 near the Sayat-Sayat checkpoint.
A group of people believed to be climbers and their mountain guide could be seen scaling down the mountain while holding onto a rope amid the strong rush of waterflow.
