Knee-deep deluge: People wading through the floodwaters at Padang Matsirat public market. — Pic taken from social media
LANGKAWI: More than 150 traders at the Padang Matsirat public market had to quickly move their goods and food items to the main road to save them from floodwaters.
Fish trader Azizi Ahmad, 42, said continuous heavy rain from early yesterday caused a river nearby to overflow, inundating the entire market with water as high as 1.2m.
“Water started to flow into the market at about 2.30am, forcing us to pack up and quickly move our goods. At about 5.30am, the water reached waist level,” he said.
Azizi said the undercurrent was so strong that some barrels of fish, shrimp and squid belonging to another trader were swept into the river.
“Many of us had to move our goods quickly to higher ground. We only managed to start our business at about 7am along Jalan Padang Matsirat,” he said.
Azizi said this was the first time in 10 years that he had to move his goods from his stall in the complex to the main road to continue with his business.
“If we can’t sell our goods, we will face considerable losses,” he added.
The downpour also caused several areas on the island resort to be flooded.
Langkawi Civil Defence Force district officer Capt (PA) Khairul Afzan Md Yasin said among the other badly-hit areas were Kampung Limbung Putra, Kampung Atas, Kampung Batu Ara, Bukit Kemboja, Kampung Nyiur Cabang, Kampung Lubuk Setul and Kampung Kerman.
“Sungai Melaka, which is the main river in Bohor and Padang Matsirat, burst its banks due to intense rain.
“About 40 villagers were affected after floodwaters entered 10 houses in Kampung Limbung Putra. However, the water subsided soon enough,” he said.
Khairul Afzan said heavy rain began around midnight on Tuesday and the water rose very quickly, leading to the flooding.
“The rain stopped at about 7am (yesterday) and by 9.45am, the water started to recede gradually in some areas. But in other areas, the situation is still bad,” he said, adding that Civil Defence Force personnel would continue to monitor the situation.
