Photo: Sinar Harian
PETALING JAYA: It was a close call for Inspector Rizalman Hassan who while rescuing villagers from the floods did not realise water had risen at his house.
Sinar Harian reported him sharing that while he was rescuing and helping relocate villagers his wife and children almost drowned.
"We were busy rescuing and relocating the villagers.
"My children and wife were at home and almost drowned because the water had risen quickly at my house in Taman Sri Bayu here.
"I was on duty at the Tumpat District Police Headquarters.
"On November 29, the water rose too quickly following the overflow of the Golok River and the high tide, causing all the houses in the Taman Sri Bayu area to flood," he said.
Rizalman said this residential area had been hit by floods before, but not as bad as when the water level inside the house reached 0.7m.
"As soon as I finished moving the villagers, I immediately rushed home to take my wife and two children, aged four and six, to a safe place.
"I had to hold both children while wading through the flood water with my wife.
"We were not able to save all our important documents, two motorcycles, electrical items and so on.
"In the seven years of living here, this was the first incident," he said when speaking to the daily on Monday (Dec 9).
Rizalman said that he and his family have been staying at the Pengkalan Kubor Police Station for a week because the cleaning and tidying of the house has not been fully completed.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Akram Hasbullah who works at the Simpangan police station said that in 2014 water did not enter his house but this time the flood reached 0.7m, entering his house.
"It so happened that I was on duty during the incident.
"I did not have time to save anything.
"I only returned home after the water had completely receded and found that everything was destroyed and I did not have time to save any of my belongings," he said.
Tumpat Police Station Chief Inspector Zulkifli Mohamad said that his house in Kota Baru was also flooded, but seeing the fate of 88 members in Taman Sri Bayu encouraged him and others to join in the work of cleaning up the area.
According to him, this flood is different compared to previous times and when the water rose, most of the personnel were on duty to evacuate the affected residents.
"That is why they did not have time to save their own belongings," he said.
