‘People were crying out for help from their homes all night’

RAJA FAISAL HISHAN/The Star

SHAH ALAM: An air of frustration and disappointment prevailed over the flood-ravaged neighbourhood of Taman Sri Muda, with some victims clearly unhappy with the delay in rescue efforts.

A resident, who wished to be known as Nagen, described the first night as “hell”, with families huddled up and sharing whatever little food they had while waiting to be evacuated.

“We went to the nearby school for shelter, and managed to get a cake from one of the boats bringing aid, and we survived on it that night,” said Nagen, who added that flashlights and cellphones were used to signal for help.

“We couldn’t sleep because people were shouting for help from their homes all night. The whole night people were shouting tolong, tolong (help, help),” he said, adding that firefighters only reached his area on the second day of the floods.

Another resident, Nik Mohd Satu Ronmie, 30, said he lost everything.

“My car, the things in my house. It’s gone,” said Nik, who could barely conceal his disappointment with the official response.

S. Karthik, 29, said his father was only evacuated on Monday afternoon, when the Fire and Rescue Department deployed teams to pick up old folks, women and children.

“I just came back to take some photos inside my house. It’s very bad,” he said.

Accountant Chan Yung, 29, also expressed his frustration with the delay in rescue.

“On the second day, there was one boat, and it just passed by. We had to constantly climb to the rooftop to shout for help. However, the food distribution is okay so far.

“On the first day no boats came in, with some saying cars on the roads were the reason why the authorities couldn’t rescue us on the first day,” he said.

Chan, who finally left the area yesterday with his mother, said they will be staying with a relative for the time being.

“We’re quite disappointed because we didn’t get any warning it would be this serious,” he said.