People’s Volunteer Corp (RELA) member Haziri Gulon (left) and Kampung Mesilou Village Development and Security Committee chairman Jakudin Gandipan (right) monitoring the water level at Sungai Mesilou Kiri yesterday.
Kampung Mesilou hit by mud flood.
KUNDASANG: Residents of Kampung Mesilou were forced to flee their homes again when the Mesilau River swollen to dangerous level early yesterday, less than three weeks after a mud flood hit their village last month.
A total of 284 people from 66 families moved to the Kem Bina Negara evacuation centre here as authority feared rising water may flood the bridge at Sungai Mesilau Kiri and cut off the only way out from the village.
One of the victims, Jatiah Muadin, said she and her three children rushed out of their home about 4.30am after being informed by a RELA personnel that the authority had asked them to evacuate.
“We were having our ‘sahur’ (early breakfast before fasting) when I felt the vibration. It felt like the house was shaking. Our house is right in between two rivers and the water must have risen so much and the current so strong that big boulders were rolling downriver.
“But I did not think about it so much at first and was about to go back to sleep when the RELA came and told us that the Fire and Rescue Department and the police have asked the villagers to evacuate,” said the 34-year-old mother of four.
Jatiah when met at Kem Bina Negara Kundasang where she and other evacuees were placed, said she was relieved they had moved to the temporary centre although the water had receded back to almost normal level and her house not flooded.
At the centre, she could at least sleep well knowing her children are safe, especially with her husband now in Japan taking an outdoor activities management training.
“He left for Japan right after we were allowed to return home from the Kundasang Community Hall on the 21st of last month. My oldest child is with his grandparents in Kiulu. So, I am alone taking care of my three other boys, aged two, four and seven.
“I have been sleeping with one eye open for the last two weeks, scared of flash flood every time there is a rain. We are still traumatized and are constantly worried. I heard the water level has decreased this morning but we are scared to go home because it may rain again.
“It is better here. It’s comfortable. We get to sleep in bed in a hostel, not in tent like before,” said Jatiah while her two-year-old son Iyaad Marcel repeated ‘tidur kemah, tidur kemah’ (sleeping in tent, sleeping in tent).
Fellow evacuee, Juitah Pulis, 42, said she, her children and her two younger siblings were among the earliest to reach the centre after her husband, a RELA and member of a committee tasked with monitoring the water level of Mesilau River, took them out of the village at around 3am.
According to Juita, her husband’s team has informed the district office of possible rising water late Saturday but no one expected the water to go up that much.
“We are all on alert at all time since the last evacuation. My husband has been monitoring the water level and watching out for indications that flood may hit us again since we returned home from the previous evacuation. So, when the water level rose last night he rushed back home to get us out,” she said.
Another villager, Lamahoi Subrong, 56, recalled that she heard terrifying loud rumbling sound coming from the river not far from her home as they evacuated.
“It sounded like a plane, the water hitting the rocks and huge boulders shifting and rolling in the current,” she said.
The district fire and rescue department informed they received MERS999 call about the flash flood in Kampung Mesilau at 3.26am. A response unit was immediately dispatched and arrived at the village at 4.26am.
The team then confirmed there was a mud flood in Mesilou and evacuation order was issued.
The department said it would continue monitoring the situation closely until the water level return to normal before allowing affected the villagers to return home.
Ranau district officer Faimin Kamin said the victims from Kampung Mesilou were still there although the mud flood situation had improved.
“The victims are still worried to return to their homes due to uncertain weather conditions,” he said in a statement here yesterday.
He said although victims were allowed to return home, the evacuation centre would continue to operate until the conditions are safe.