Vehicles were replaced by boats to transport people during the March floods in Kanowit, Sarawak.
EACH time heavy rain falls, longhouse chief (tuai rumah) Grace Itun Ako braces for disaster.
Her home, Rumah Grace, sits along Jalan Stabau in Sibu, Sarawak – a stretch notorious for flooding.
While past deluges caused minor disruptions, the March 21-23 floods that ravaged Kapit, Song, Selangau, Kanowit, and Sibu shattered any semblance of resilience.
“That was the worst flood in 20 years,” said Grace, her voice heavy with unease. “The waters rose so high they swallowed detached riverside houses entirely. Only rooftops were visible.”
Her 40-door longhouse, home to 183 residents, narrowly escaped ruin.
Built on stilts, its elevated structure spared the bilik (rooms) from inundation, but floodwaters still surged 1.2m deep beneath the floors.
The crisis struck without warning.
“I was at a dinner on March 20 when my husband called, urging me to rush home as the river swelled. By 2am, we were stranded,” she recalled.
For three days, the feeder road to Rumah Grace lay submerged, trapping residents.
Many lost furniture stored on ground floors, while a neighbour’s tilapia farm vanished as fish escaped into the currents.
“This was our third flood this year,” Grace added. “Now, we live in constant fear of the next one.”
A firefighter helping to evacuate a flood victim in Selangau, Sarawak.
Submerged streets
In Kanowit, Susie Buah of the Civil Defence Force described similar terror.
“It was only drizzling when the river suddenly surged inland,” she said. “Shop owners froze – they couldn’t save their stock. For three days, the old bazaar sat under a metre of water.”
Unlike past floods, which spared shop interiors beyond the waterfront, this disaster paralysed daily life.
“Residents couldn’t work, children missed school, and the clinic closed. The disruption was immense,” Susie explained.
Climate change and concrete don’t mix
Central Sarawak’s plight underscores a deepening crisis.
Climate change, rapid land development and inadequate urban planning have turned seasonal rains into catastrophes.
The Rajang River, swollen by relentless rain in Kapit from March 18–20, breached danger levels.
Sarawak’s Meteorological Department recorded 50.8mm of rainfall on March 20 alone – part of a staggering 618.8mm total by March 25, more than double the monthly average.
The fallout was swift.
Civil Defence Force personnel in Kapit, Sarawak, transporting students to school by boat during the floods.
Fifteen Chinese primary schools in Sibu closed, the Lanang Health Clinic shuttered for two days, and nearly 1,000 people fled to relief centres.
In Sibu’s urban core, major roads like Jalan Lanang vanished under 0.6m of water.
Accounts officer Sandie Wong lamented her commute ballooning from 35 minutes to nearly two hours.
For farmers, the toll was existential.
Sibu Vegetable Planters Association chairman Tieu Kiu Sing watched helplessly as metre-deep floods obliterated crops.
“We lost everything,” he said.
Seeking solutions
Amid the mud and debris, urgent questions linger: were warnings sufficient? Could mitigation have softened the blow? And will authorities finally act?
Local think-tank member Dr Hii Sui Cheng stressed the link between deforestation and disaster.
“Excessive rainfall floods us because forests no longer absorb water. Siltation chokes our rivers,” he said, advocating retention walls, elevated roads, and enforced buffer zones along riverbanks.
As the streets in Kanowit turn into waterways, an enterprising woman sells beancurd from a boat.
Politicians proposed more immediate fixes.
Dudong assemblyman Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing pushed for federal funding to dredge the Rajang and Igan rivers.
“Silt buildup is unsustainable. Dredging must start now,” he urged.
Bukit Assek assemblyman Joseph Chieng championed Phase Four of Sibu’s flood mitigation plan.
“Earlier phases shielded parts of the town. Phase Four will extend to Bukit Assek and Jalan Keranji – areas hit hardest by king tides,” he said, noting that designs are tender-ready.
Sibu MP Oscar Ling demanded broader scrutiny.
“Three floods in a year prove that current measures are inadequate.
“Mitigation focuses on the town centre, ignoring outskirts like the west bank.
“If we want Sibu to be the ‘Amsterdam of the East,’ our planning must match that ambition,” he argued.
The road to the Lanang Bridge in Sibu, Sarawak, submerged by floods.
Stemming the tide
The March floods left more than physical scars – they exposed systemic neglect.
For Grace, Susie and thousands like them, resilience is wearing thin.
As climate extremes intensify, Sarawak’s communities await more than promises; they need walls against the water, rivers freed from silt and forests preserved to heal the land.
The clock is ticking.
Without swift, coordinated action, the next flood could rewrite the definition of “worst in decades”.
