KUALA KRAI, Dec 30 — Villagers from the town of Manik Urai Lama here had to make their way up hills to save themselves when the largest floods in living memory hit their area last Tuesday.
The overflowing Sungai Lebir forced the villagers out of their homes and to higher ground for safety.
While many found shelter at SM Manik Urai Lama, some headed into the woods and relied on makeshift sheds.
Army officer Fadli Mohamad Nor, 39, headed for the hills with his mother and stayed for two days.
“We relied on the food that was being shared among villagers there. We had to ration whatever grains and rice they gave,” he said.
“We had to keep moving higher as the flood waters rose, eventually reaching the woods.”
Fadli returned to his mother’s home while he was on leave last Saturday, only to make for the hills three days later.
He explained his mother’s home was destroyed in the flood because it was caught in a whirlpool.
“There was water coming in from three sides, this was the meeting point where the water was swirling,” he said.
The villagers have been digging in the muddy ruins of their homes for two days after water began to subside.
The water reached its peak along the hillside of Kampung Bukit Kajang.
Siti Khadijah Mohd Noor, 36, found shelter there when someone was kind enough to take her and her family in.
Since the water levels dropped, she had been going back home to salvage wood for a new house.
“My husband builds homes, so we are going to try and rebuild our house,” she said.
As water levels receded, the floods’ destruction began to show. While the villagers were used to floods from Sungai Lebir, a short trek across a bridge to the newer township of Manik Urai Baru would have been enough to keep them on higher ground.
However, this time around, the floods proved to be too much, as evident by the overturned cars at that very same bridge.
The latest number of Kuala Krai evacuees in relief centres was 4,864, while the total evacuee count in Kelantan was 40,365.
