Firefighters saved supermarket employees from a shop house in Kota Tinggi. The town has been experiencing severe flooding recently.
KOTA TINGGI: Eight employees of a supermarket who were trapped in a shophouse after the water level rose to 1.5m in Kota Tinggi were rescued by the Fire and Rescue Department on Friday (March 3).
The women employees who were renting a premises above the supermarket were rescued by a team from Kota Tinggi Fire and Rescue Station led by Zone 2 Johor Deputy Fire Superintendent II Tahrin Saat at 11am.
One of the victims, Roziana Zaharuddin, 31, said they had been trapped in the house for three days before finally seeking help from the Fire and Rescue Department on Friday morning after the river burst its banks and began flooding all the roads making them impassable to light vehicles.
"Normally when it floods, water will not reach our supermarket premises, but this morning the area was flooded.
"So we decided to make an emergency call to get us out of this area,” she said when met here on Friday.
Roziana who works as a supervisor at the supermarket, said they also managed to move items in the supermarket to higher ground to avoid them from being submerged.
Another victim, Fatin Anisah Che Anaf, 19, said despite being trapped for the past three days they had no problem with food and drink supply.
"We have enough food like instant noodles and biscuits but we became fearful and when the water level continued to rise we decided to leave immediately," she said.
Meanwhile, Tahrin advised the public to follow orders to evacuate to ensure rescue and relief efforts can be carried out smoothly when relocating them to a safer place to prevent any untoward incident.
He said his team is on standby 24-hours ready to be deployed in case of emergency.
"We urge the public not to play in the flood waters to prevent from being swept away by strong currents," he said. - Bernama
