Kindness shines through: Muhd Sufi helping an elderly man who was stranded in his car in Sri Medan, Batu Pahat, in Johor.
BATU PAHAT: Fisherman Muhd Sufi Sharifudin was on his way home after installing his fish nets when he stumbled upon a partially-submerged Perodua Kancil near a Sri Medan oil palm estate.
Despite the heavy rain, the 30-year-old said he did not want to take any chances. He decided to approach the vehicle in his boat as waters had risen to waist level.
To his surprise, in the car sat a visibly frightened man who he later discovered was 70 years old.
“The pakcik lost his way and drove into a dead end and the car got stuck.
“Luckily, my wife and I reached there in time. We waded in the waist-high water and got him out of his car and into our boat to safety,” he told The Star when interviewed about the incident, which took place at around 6pm yesterday.
Muhd Sufi added that the elderly man had been waiting in the car for close to an hour.
He then reported the incident to the police, as the stranded man did not have any identification documents on him.
Shortly after, the police arrived and sent the man home.
Muhd Sufi said he is constantly on the lookout to assist those affected by floods, including animals.
He said he will never forget the sight of more than 10 cats trapped in two cages submerged in floodwaters during a rescue mission last year.
The father of five, who went around his village in Kampung Parit Badak to rescue animals in March last year, said most of the animals in the submerged cages were already dead by the time he reached them.
ALSO READ : Families take swift action for personal safety
“When people evacuated to temporary flood relief centres (PPS), many pets were left behind so my family and I decided to make rounds in my two boats to look for pets and stray animals.
“It was such a sad sight to see six or seven cats in each of the two cages in the murky waters. Most of them were dead and only three were barely alive.
“Maybe the owners left the cages on a high surface before they evacuated, but floodwaters must have risen quicker and higher than anticipated and washed the cages away,” he recalled.
Mohd Sufi added that in total, they rescued more than 100 cats and dogs throughout the floods then, which spanned more than two weeks.
“We prepared bags of cat and dog food in our boats and fed some of the strays that sought shelter on higher ground.
“We took back more than 10 cats that were unwell, and some of them are still living with us.”
With the water level in the river beside Kampung Parit Badak rising now, Muhd Sufi said he will once again take his boats out for animal rescue.
“Every life is valuable, even if it’s an animal’s,” he said.
Ihsan Johor chief executive officer Farrah Faridah Baptist, who has been involved in flood relief activities in Segamat since last week, said the families there are a resilient bunch.
ALSO READ : Man braves floodwaters in search of milk to feed hungry baby
“When their homes in Kampung Batu Badak were inundated for four days, they sought shelter at the PPS. On the fifth day, waters receded and they went home in the morning to clean up.
“However, waters rose again in the evening and they had to move back to the PPS at night,” she said, adding that for Segamat folk, floods are an annual occurrence.
Farrah Faridah is the floods coordinator for the Social Heroes Foundation, an umbrella body with more than 120 NGOs in Johor.
She said that many flood victims still prefer staying put to keep an eye on their belongings.
“It is common to see men refusing to move to a PPS as they want to avoid having their valuables stolen. We will spend time coaxing them about putting their safety first,” she said.
She added that her organisation is also working with the Welfare Department to distribute 1,000 sets of sleeping kits contributed by Yayasan Telekom Malaysia to flood evacuees.
After the floods, Farrah Faridah said her team plans to conduct flood preparedness and risk reduction training to teach the villagers how to minimise flood risks to better respond to future disasters.
As of 2pm yesterday, the number of flood evacuees in Johor was still escalating, with 767 people from 291 families seeking shelter in 19 PPS in Segamat and Tangkak.
