Samarahan residents blame poor drainage for deluge

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The flood at Uni-Garden.

KUCHING: Some residents of Uni-Vista and Uni-Garden in Kota Samarahan affected by the flash flood blamed their predicament on the failure of the drainage system in their area.

A resident who requested anonymity said this was because the drains could not accommodate the water flow in the area where development is growing fast.

“I’ve been staying here for many years but only in recent years that we are affected by the flood. Given the fast development including the building of more residential areas here, the drainage system should be upgraded.

“But it seems that nothing had been done on the drainage despite the growing number of construction works for houses and commercial centres here,” he said when met yesterday.

The Uni-Vista and Uni-Garden located opposite Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) were among the flooded residential areas following a heavy downpour since Saturday.

Meanwhile, 67-year-old Patrick Angkon said he did not expect the floods at the housing estates to be that bad this year.

He explained that the two-foot high retaining wall failed to stop floods as it seemed that the water level had risen above the wall.

“I managed to save only the cushion sofa, television and refrigerator. The others such as the kitchen cabinet and cupboard were inundated by water,” he said.

Dayang Hummida Abang Abdul Rahman, who is two months pregnant, was stumped over the sudden flood which she described as the worst since her family moved there.

She said she only discovered flood water had seeped into the ground floor of her house at around 3.30am yesterday and she immediately woke up her younger sibling to assist in moving important items to the first floor.

She was happy that some personnel from the Civil Defence Department and Armed Forces went to her house later in the morning to help move some furniture.

A Civil Defence Department personnel pointing to the level that the water had risen to before it subsided earlier on due to flash flood early yesterday morning.

The blocked drain at a nearby commercial centre.

Clearing out water from a house in Uni-Garden.