TAIPING: Two families faced a terrifying ordeal as they were partially submerged while awaiting help during flash floods in Taiping on Thursday (Oct 23).
Nurse Noor Shafinaz Fadzil, 42, from Taman Larah Damai, said she and her husband tried to contact the Fire and Rescue Department and the 999 emergency hotline, but to no avail.
"We had one phone on a video call with family, while another was connected to the 999 hotline.
"It was only after my husband managed to get a message out to his work WhatsApp group that a friend of his came to our rescue," she said when met at the Changkat Larah temporary relief centre on Friday (Oct 24).
Their rescuer, a “Cikgu Alex”, waded through the floodwaters with a long tyre inflator hose to lead them out of the water.
“At that moment, I thought I was going to die. All I could think about was my little boy.
“When Cikgu Alex arrived, I pleaded for him to save my child and the other children in the neighbourhood first,” she added.
Meanwhile, Noor Shafinaz's neighbour, V. Nalini, said she was asleep when water surged into her house.
"I have four kids; thank God, only my two eldest were with me that evening. The younger children were spending Deepavali holidays at my sister-in-law’s house in Sungkai,” she said.
Nalini said she was still in shock as her area had never experienced such severe flooding before.
“I couldn’t save anything, not even my phone. All I could think about was getting my family to safety. My children’s school uniforms, textbooks and important documents are all gone.
“I hope the authorities will offer some aid to help us get back on our feet,” she said.
Changkat Larah village community management council chairman Abdul Sidek Mat, 58, said he hoped relevant agencies would distribute their resources according to each area’s needs.
"Some places have a lot of rescue teams, while others have none,” he said, urging the Fire and Rescue Department and Civil Defence Force to look into the matter.
He added that affected families would only be allowed to go back to their houses once the water receded.
As of 4pm on Oct 24, some 2,496 people from 857 families have been displaced by flash floods in Manjung and Larut, Matang and Selama, Perak Tengah, and Kerian.
There are currently 24 relief centres operating in four districts.
