DUNGUN: For the first time in 40 years, residents in the Felda Kerteh cluster in Ketengah Jaya have finally experienced the ordeal of flash floods.
Considered a tragic end to 2023 by the locals, the floods, which occurred in the blink of an eye following a very heavy rain at around 4 pm, forced approximately 260 residents to be evacuated to temporary relief centres.
Felda Kerteh 1, Felda Kerteh 4, Felda Kerteh 6, and Ketengah Jaya were the most severely affected areas, leaving a profound impact on the victims, with some traumatised by the disaster.
During the incident, Nik Noorin Nor Ab Rahman, 59, said that she and her family were on their way home to Felda Kerteh 1 from Kelantan when she received a call from her younger brother informing her that water had started to enter his house.
Initially not thinking it was something serious, she was shocked when told that the water had risen to waist level outside her house, and several family vehicles were beginning to be submerged in water.
"My brother contacted me asking for the whereabouts of the car keys because he wanted to help move the vehicles as the water was rising rapidly. He then broke the house windows to retrieve the keys but was too late as the water had submerged two cars and three motorcycles.
"Not long after that, our family reached the main road outside, but the cars could not navigate the flooded area. Fortunately, a resident driving a tractor helped us by taking us to our house," she said when interviewed at her home on Monday (Dec 25).
Seeing her house inundated by the swift current of the flash flood, the woman, who runs a food stall in front of her house, feels helpless and unable to do anything.
"I couldn't even muster the strength to hold the phone to inform other family members about it.
"Almost all items inside and outside the house are damaged. The house was also left empty with no one there at the time... because we did not anticipate such a calamity," she said, estimating her family's losses to be over RM50,000.
Meanwhile, Marina Husain, 36, from Ketengah Jaya, said that the incident has traumatised her, especially since the rain continues, although not as heavy as the previous day.
Recalling those anxious moments, the mother of four said it took only about 15 minutes for the water to rise to thigh level due to the overflowing ditch in front of her house and the river behind her house.
"Fortunately, my husband was at home then, and he quickly placed our 3-year-old youngest child in a higher place in the house. We didn't know which items to save first and only took important documents before rushing to a safe place with my 72-year-old mother.
"I was truly panicked facing such a situation for the first time. It doesn't make sense, if you ask me, for a flash flood to happen like that," said Marina.
A check by Bernama at the location found significant damage from the flash flood, with the management offices of Felda Kerteh 4 and Felda Kerteh 6 experiencing structural damage to the land and fences.
The flash flood incident in Ketengah Jaya resulted in the highest number of flood victims in the third wave in Dungun, reaching 1,220 people as of 2 pm on Monday.
In addition to Dungun, five other affected districts are Hulu Terengganu with 728 people, Kemaman (361 people), Setiu (215 people), Besut (106 people), and Marang (12 people), making a total of 2,642 evacuees still seeking refuge in 53 relief centres, according to data from the Terengganu State Disaster Management Committee secretariat. – Bernama
