KUALA TERENGGANU: Every year-end monsoon season, villagers in Kampung Chek Long, Titian Hangus brace for the worst and unfortunately for them, the worst occurs every time.
It has been an annual watery nightmare for the villagers, who suffer damage to belongings and even crops, with losses amounting to tens of thousands of ringgit over the years.
Villager Samsudin Yani, 50, likened the floods to a “stubborn uninvited visitor”.
[Picture – Getting prepared: Samsudin (right) and his neighbour Idris Jusoh, 40, getting ready for the ‘stubborn uninvited visitor’.Getting prepared: Samsudin (right) and his neighbour Idris Jusoh, 40, getting ready for the ‘stubborn uninvited visitor’.]
The labourer said family members would move electrical appliances such as the refrigerator and television to higher ground to minimise damage.
“No matter what we do, the flood water reaches up to above knee-level and submerges my kitchen.
“The worst flood I have ever experienced was five years ago, when the water reached up to waist-level and I had to vacate my home,” he said.
He hoped the Government would improve the drainage system at the village and its surrounding areas.
Fellow villager Rubiah Yusof, 49, said she dreaded the flood aftermath because the massive clean-up was back-breaking.
Village farmers’ association chairman Idris Jusoh, 40, said the 10 farmers there suffered losses averaging RM15,000 every year.
It’s time for fishermen to stay at home
It is coming close to the season when bad weather wreaks havoc on fishermen who are unable to go out to sea.
Fisherman Abdul Halim Abdullah, 50, was among the hundreds here worrying about the rainy days.
“We will be powerless between November and February, most years. Some of us find odd-jobs to make ends meet. Others just spend their time fixing their boats or nets,” he lamented at the Pulau Kambing fishing jetty here.
Halim added some fishermen with trawlers would brave the rough seas, but added that it was not worth dicing with danger.
“There have been many incidents where fishermen have been foolish enough to go out to sea during the monsoon and never came back,” he recalled.
Hamid Embong, 48, said he would often just hang out with other fishermen. – TheStar
