KUDAT: A total of 913 flood evacuees from four villages in the district took advantage of the fine weather to return to their homes from the evacuation centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Sikuati yesterday.
District officer Sabdin Ibrahim said the Welfare Department was handling the distribution of aid and he would be making sure no flood victims were left out.
Earlier, Kudat member of parliament Datuk Rahim Bakri and State Secretary Tan Sri Sukarti Wakiman visited the flood victims and handed over aid at the evacuation centre.
Sukarti also visited the badly affected village, Kampung Korina, which has 590 victims from 139 families.
“The bridge connecting to the village has been damaged, so the government will be taking steps to immediately repair the infrastructure as vehicles are unable to use the bridge to get to the village.
“Villagers using the road are now using alternative roads such as Jalan Pencawang RTM to Kampung Andap Jawa, Kampung Narandang Darat, Kampung Purina and Kampung Korina,” said Sabdin.
Meanwhile, Tanjong Kapor assemblyman Datuk Teo Chee Kang will secure funds to repair or rebuild the damaged bridge connecting villagers in Kampung Korina to Sikuati town.
The bridge was damaged by the flood which hit Kampung Korina, Kampung Narandang, Kampung Purina and Kampung Andap Jawa two days ago.
Teo, who is also the Minister of Special Tasks, said the bridge at Kampung Korina is the only one connecting the village to Sikuati town and now it is no longer accessible by vehicles, only pedestrians.
“I am looking at getting funding from the government to get the bridge repaired or rebuilt as soon as possible for the benefit of the people,” he said when met at the disbursement of the LDP education fund to its divisions in the west coast here yesterday.
Teo when asked for the update on the flood situation in Kudat, disclosed that as of yesterday, 931 persons, including 65 babies from the four villages, had been registered as victims. They were evacuated to SK Sikuati which was the relief centre, for one night.
“According to the latest report that I received, the water level has receded to a safe level and, at about 2pm today, the level was at 1.8 metres. The danger level is 2.2 metres and the warning level is 1.9 metres. Presently, the level is already well below the danger level and therefore the victims have been advised to return to their homes.
“At one point in time the water level was at 2.8 metres, and I had personally inspected Kampung Korina which had a small river discharging water into an estuary. It was flooded quite badly,” he said.
Teo added that the District Natural Disaster Committee under district officer Sabdin Ibrahim had in fact called for a meeting a few days ago to prepare for the flood.
When the minister inspected the area and relief centre, he was happy to note that the registration of victims and the evacuation work had been done quite smoothly with cooperation from all the relevant government agencies.
“They (the government agencies and departments) have all done their part. Some of them have even deployed their personnel and assets to assist the victims. That is very commendable. I also praise and am grateful that there were many volunteers from the villages who helped out in the evacuation work. I thank all of them.
“The weather forecast at the moment is good but I urge the committee to stay alert as weather can be unpredictable and we just hope and pray that this extraordinary rainfall won’t hit us again. I am also happy that apart from damages to belongings of the people, there were no untoward incidents, no injuries and no loss of lives,” Teo added.