House flooded 26 times in two years

Compiled by HO JIA WEN, C.ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN

SITI Khadijah Noordin, 42, is tired of the floods that keep hitting her home in Kampung Bukit Balai, Alor Gajah, every year, and hopes to move to a new place.

“Last year, my home was flooded 24 times because of water from the nearby river overflowing into the residential area,” she said.

This year, her home has already been flooded twice and some of her clothes and household items were damaged, reported Harian Metro.

“The floods were unexpected this time around because of the hot weather, yet the water reached knee level.

“We plan to shift to another place because we can no longer tolerate the situation,” she said.

Another resident, housewife Haziah Shamsudin, 42, has also suffered much, having lived in the area for the past 18 years.

She and her six children are especially tired of having to move back and forth between temporary shelters every time their home is flooded.

Both families hope to shift to a safer place where they will not have to face floods.

> A man decided to honour his late wife by placing her baju raya from last year as part of the family photo with their three children during the recent festive season, reported Harian Metro.

Mohamad Firdaus Zainal Abidin, 44, said it was a difficult time for the family as this was the first Hari Raya his wife was not with them.

“After prayers, my children requested to take pictures. At that moment, I really missed her presence.

“I asked the kids to bring their mother’s clothes so that they could feel like their mum was there with the family,” he said.

His wife passed away in June last year after a sudden onset of pancreatic cancer.

“During her time in the hospital, she asked me to remain strong. She left a message for the children a week before she passed away, as if she knew she was leaving us forever,” said Mohamad Firdaus.

His wife had always chosen Raya clothing for the family and also decided on the colour theme.

“This year, I had to do everything myself and I decided to buy the clothes online.

“The children were sad, but I am grateful that my family and in-laws have given us a lot of support,” he said.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a, it denotes a separate news item.