KEMAMAN, Dec 26 — It was a harrowing experience for a young mother, wading through waist-high floodwaters to save her newborn baby after her family home was inundated early today.

Suhaili Saharuddin, 21, from Kampung Padang, said she had to wade through the flood waters for about 200 metres to the relief centre about 3am today although she had given birth to her daughter, Nur Sofia Mohd Rizal, only 15 days ago.

"I was sleeping when my husband woke me up, saying water had entered the house. I panicked initially because of my newborn baby, but we promptly decided to evacuate for fear the flood waters would rise further.

"I carried my newborn child through the flood waters. Only God knew how I felt at the time in the darkness, but I had to be strong for my baby’s safety.

"My husband carried our other child, aged three years,” she recalled when met at the relief centre at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Badrul Alam Shah, Kemasik, here.

Suhaili, who resides in Paka, said she had returned to her family home yesterday evening to spend her confinement period with the family but for now, recuperating at the relief centre.

She said the facilities provided at the relief centre did provide some comfort for her and her family.

"Thankfully, I have been given a tent, a Toto mattress and a mat, as well as food suitable for a woman in confinement. Today, I had fried chicken and rice for lunch.

"This morning, a health officer came and took my baby to the clinic for a check-up and treatment as my baby has jaundice,” she added.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rasid Ibrahim, 44, who lives at the Kampung Baru Kanan Hardcore Poor Housing Project (PPRT) in Kemasik, said heavy rain from 8pm yesterday caused the river water to overflow to the housing area, inundating more than 10 houses.

"Flood waters started entering my house about 1am. Fortunately, my wife and I managed to remove our furniture and other belongings to a higher place.

"We only evacuated to the relief centre at 5am as it took time to move those things away to safety,” he said.

Abdul Rasid said this was the second time his house was hit by flood since moving to the PPRT in September, this year. The first time was in November where he also had to evacuate, but it happened during daytime.

Kemaman district officer, Rosman Roslan said up to noon today, there were 63 flood evacuees from 17 families sheltered at SMK Badrul Alam Shah, Kampung Padang Kemunting community hall and Kampung Batu 9 community hall, Ibok. — Bernama