Residents of flood-prone Sibu Jaya fear the worst everytime it rains and they point squarely at the poor drainage system as the cause of the constant deluge
FARM BESIDE DRAIN: Farmers say their crops are always destroyed whenever it floods.
WHEN housewife Molly Lim moved into Lane 5G at Sibu Jaya a decade ago, she rejoiced her family finally had a roof over their heads. But that joy short-lived and the rain was the spoil-sport.
Molly said they were now overtaken by fear and anxiety whenever it poured.
In just 30 minutes to an hour of heavy rain, her family would be busy moving things to higher ground because their house would be flooded.
“When the flooding is really bad, the water will reach knee height. And as quickly it comes, the water will subside in another 30 minutes.
“Day in and day out, this is what we have to put up with. Before the level of flash flood rises, we have to start moving our household belongings — refrigerator, mattresses, pillows and the like — and pile them up high. Then, half an hour later, we have to put them back where they are after we clear our house of mud.”
She said whenever they told friends about the flash flood that came with every downpour, they were shocked about the life Molly and her family were living at a modern housing estate.
Reporters, accompanied by a few residents, went round to check on the situation, and true enough, all the neighbours had the same dreadful story to tell about the rain and the flood.
In fact, the flooding has become so frequent that the residents now use a Chinese saying to describe the water: “Coming like a gust of wind and leaving without a trace in no time.”
“Now you see it, now you don’t,” was how one resident labelled the rise and fall of the deluge.
Poor drainage system
The residents all blame the flooding on the drainage system, saying the rainwater cannot be flushed out fast enough, so it flows back into their areas and houses.
“We don’t need a flood expert to tell us what is happening. We have been here for more than a decade,” said terrace house owner Matthew Ling who stays near Molly at Lane 5G.
Ling who moved in 15 years ago, said: “The flood situation is getting more serious as more land is opened up to expand Sibu Jaya.”
He said not only Lane 5G residents were suffering as a result, those from Lane 1 to Lane 5G, and Lanes 6, 7 and 8 were also in the same boat.
Ling, with a bigger family to support, has more worries than Molly.
“We don’t have enough rooms, so some of the children have to sleep on the floor. Just imagine waking up in the middle of the night to find our mattresses all soaked up.”
He said learning from experience, at least one member of the family would now keep watch at night whenever it rained heavily.
“Once, when returning home from the town in heavy rain, we found our mattresses floating around in the house.”
Lane 6 resident Hamidon Harun is sure there is also a problem with the design of the drains, saying: “It is too small and cannot hold the rainwater.”
Another resident, who wanted to be known only as Sikri, agreed with Hamidon.
According to him, the residents had chosen their homes in Sibu Jaya not only because they were cheaper but also because it was an township with modern design concepts to boost living standards.
Another resident, known as Thomas, said he had chosen Sibu Jaya because he was fed up with the frequent flooding in Sibu’s low-lying areas.
“I moved in from Kapor Road — a water-logged area where the worst floods always hit. Now, I moved here only to jump into another watery spot.”
Thomas called the Sibu Jaya deluge “the highland flood” because the new township was built on high ground.
No response
Many residents said they had highlighted their problem numerous times in the media and to the authorities and politicians.
Some residents have now turned to Dudong state assemblyman Yap Hoi Liong for help.
Yap confirmed he had received many distress calls just a few months after he was elected.
He had visited the flooded areas and gone round with a group of people, including a contractor with more than a decade of house-building experience, to examine the situation.
“The contractor confirmed the problem came from the drains,” he said.
Yap pointed out that the water in the residential areas was flushed out to the main drain but on the other side of the drain, the water was flushed back in from the commercial areas.
“This creates a bottleneck in the outlet of the drain,” he noted.
According to a coffeeshop owner, who wished to remain anonymous, the commercial areas were built on higher ground.
He believed during a downpour, as the storm water of the whole Sibu Jaya was rushing out, it got pushed back into the residential areas from the higher commercial areas.
Yap chipped in: “The main drain is not big enough. Worst, while the concrete main drain leads out of Sibu Jaya, the water flows into an earth drain that runs 11km into Salim River.”
The assemblyman said padi fields and farms along the water route would also be flooded with the crops getting destroyed and farmers suffering heavy losses.
Yap is concerned because Sibu Jaya is expanding fast.
“I call on the government and the developer to come up with remedies.”
He said immediate actions were needed for the modern township to live up to its reputation, assuring the residents he would bring the problem up at the state assembly meeting.
He said he would consider sending a memorandum to Housing and Urban Development Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Abang Openg when the need arose.
“The problem is serious. There are over 3,500 residential units and over 500 commercial units in Sibu Jaya now.
“The population is now over 25,000 people and the fast expanding township is serviced by one only concrete main drain. Worst, this drain runs into an earth drain on its way out to the river.”