Kota Tinggi flood victims face clean-up work, cost

Recent floods in Kota Tinggi, Johor proved to be challenging for victims who were forced to evacuate their homes.

For 60-year-old grandmother Yu Kee Hiang, efforts to clean up her home after the first wave of floods was all in vain.

Just two hours after scrubbing down her house in Taman Mawai Jaya on Jan 8, her home was submerged in floodwaters again.

“There goes my four hours of hard work,” she said while recounting the floods that hit her housing estate.

Yu had evacuated to a hotel some 1km away with her husband and teenage grandson.

“I had prepared (for a flood) after it rained for a few days the week before.

“I placed my belongings, including electrical items, on a high structure built by my husband,” she said.

After the water subsided in the morning after the first round of flooding, she said they returned home to find the single-storey unit in a mess.

“We scrubbed the floor, moved the furniture out to hose them down and after completing the tasks, the flood came again at 5pm,” she said.

Frustrated and tired of the annual floods, Yu said she was looking forward to moving into her new home in Kota Jaya, which was on higher ground.

“After going through the floods for two decades, I decided to move.

“I am now waiting for the keys to our new house,” she added.

Lathnamuty with his wife N. Saraswathi at the SK Taman Kota Jaya temporary relief centre.

Another victim, M. Lathnamuty said the entire lower floor of his house in Taman Kuso had flooded, forcing him to evacuate to the SK Taman Kota Jaya temporary relief centre (PPS).

“My wife and I left the house on Jan 7 when waters rose to waist-level. The next day, the murky waters almost reached the top of my front gate.

“It looks like I will have to spend thousands of ringgit to replace the damaged items,” said the 67-year-old retiree, adding that he had only managed to move the washing machine, television, water filter and stove to the upper floor of the double-storey house.

Both Yu and Lathnamuty returned home last week after the authorities deemed it safe for them to do so.

They are hopeful that the weather would improve and there would not be another wave of floods.

All PPS in Kota Tinggi, which was the worst-hit district, have shut their operations, as evacuees have returned home.

At the height of the floods, which started in the first week of January, more than 11,700 victims from about 3,200 families were forced out of their homes and into PPS statewide. — By YEE XIANG YUN