MANJUNG, Jan 27 — Instead of decorating homes with lanterns and paper cuttings to usher in the Chinese New Year tomorrow, the Chinese community in Desa Beruas are desperately trying to move their possessions to higher ground due to flash floods.
Desa Beruas is among several villages in Manjung badly affected by floods caused a continuous rain in the past six days.
Villager Su Ah See, 77, said her house flooded every time it rained heavily.
“Chinese New Year will be here soon and I did not prepare anything for the celebration,” Su said.
“If it rains heavily on Chinese New Year, then the whole house will be flooded. It took me a whole day to clean the entire house after the flood hit on Wednesday.
“I have no one to help me as I’m staying alone. My priority at the moment is to move my valuables to higher ground,” she said.
Su, who is a widow, said she did not want to go to the evacuation centre as she was worried the floods would wash away her households items.
“I’m not working anymore and I have no children to support me. I’m only surviving with the money from the district welfare department,” she said.
“If I lost my household items in the flood, I cannot afford to buy new ones.”
Su, who was a rubber tapper, said she had wrapped all important documents and valuable items, including food items, in plastic bags and stored them in the highest shelf in her house.
Su’s neighbour Law Koon Moi, 77, said they are not in the mood to celebrate Chinese New Year.
“We have been told by the authorities it can rain again in the next two days,” she said.
“I just hope it won’t rain heavily during Chinese New Year.
“I don’t have the strength to clean the house again. Cleaning the mud left by the flood waters is a strenuous task. I’m too old for it,” Law said.
Law, who has lived here for the past 55 years, said she had moved her refrigerator and television set to a higher area in the house with the help of the villagers.
