KOTA KINABALU: A father carried his toddler while three other children ran hand in hand as they fled a mud flood gushing down from a hill behind their house, carrying boulders and debris.
In just moments, their leisurely afternoon turned into a nightmare that left them homeless at Kampung Sarapung, Penampang near here.
“One moment, I was watching television with my younger children and the next, we had to run for our lives,” said civil servant Oliver Golingai, 44.
Recalling the stormy Thursday afternoon around 3pm, he said he first heard a snap from one of the pipes outside his house.
“I went to check and saw that the main water pipe was broken. I saw the stream behind my house had turned muddy and trees were starting to fall.
“So I called my children to gather important documents and belongings because we needed to get out fast,” he said.
Just as he finished, muddy water began flowing into his garage.
He quickly grabbed his two-year-old toddler and screamed for his other children – aged 10, 15 and 17 – to run down to his parents’ house.
“As we ran downhill, we saw the hill behind us collapse, bringing with it mud, trees and boulders into my house,” he said.
The next day, Golingai returned and found half his house buried under mud and earth, while the other half was filled with muddy water and debris.
“I don’t think there is anything salvageable,” he said, adding that the immediate assistance needed were excavators to clear the debris, not clothes or other essentials as there was no space to keep them.
The landslide also destroyed several other houses, though none as badly as his.
Another house was severely damaged, with two people feared buried.
One woman survived with minor injuries, while a 97-year-old man was found dead a day later.
The incident was among dozens of landslides reported across the state over the past week following daily rain and thunderstorms.
Floods were also reported in many areas, with Penampang, Beaufort and Tawau the worst hit.
