Everything gone in one night

Major damage: The flash flood destroyed all the belongings in Santi’s house including their furniture and electrical appliances.

PETALING JAYA: A family of eight will not be able to celebrate Deepavali after a destructive flash flood left them with only their identification cards.

“We lost everything, ” said Santhi Krishnan whose house in Taman Happy, Seremban, was inundated by two metres of floodwaters following heavy rain on Tuesday.

“We checked the damage. Everything is gone. All our furniture was damaged, the electrical appliances gone. Our motorcycle was also damaged.

“We couldn’t even save our birth certificates and university graduation certificates. We only managed to save our identification cards, ” said the 23-year-old.

Santhi, a life insurance adviser, said her family was jolted from their sleep around 1.30am when they realised their house was flooding.

“When we woke up, the water was already up to my knees. We quickly called Bomba.

“But in just 20 minutes, the water was already up to my neck and I am 151cm tall. I was really shocked.

“We quickly got my sister’s children to sit on top of the double-decker bed which was the highest point in the house and we stood around the bed while waiting for Bomba to arrive, ” she said yesterday.

Santi said the water started to recede after 4.30am when the rain stopped, noting that when firemen arrived, the water level was at her hips.

She, however, was grateful as they were all safe.

“In this housing area, it is not just our family who had suffered but also other families. It is helpful if there is assistance provided for all of us, ” she said.

Seremban district civil defence force operations officer Lt (PA) Mohd Najib Abdul Karim said seven villages were inundated by up to two metres of floodwaters.

They are Kampung Datuk Mansor, Taman Happy and Taman Mok Sum, Kampung Bukit Chedang, Kampung Baru Block C Ampangan, Kampung Batu 3, Taman Angsa Mas and Kampung Siliau.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that the Negri Sembilan government and Menteri Besar Incorporated yesterday distributed RM500 cash assistance to each of 1,000 households affected by Wednesday’s flash floods at several locations in Seremban, Port Dickson and Rembau.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun said the aid had been handed over to the state assemblymen in Ampangan, Rahang, Mambau and state constituency coordinators for Rantau, Kota and Linggi to be channelled to the flood victims as soon as possible.