Storm causes havoc in Sabah; family of eight cheats death

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LUCKY TO BE ALIVE: Juminah (left) showing the roof of her house which collapsed and almost buried her family.

KOTA KINABALU: A 47-year-old grandmother, her five children and two grandchildren cheated death when heavy rain and strong winds caused by Typhoon Nesat blew off the roof of their house at Kampung Tanjung Aru Baru, here early yesterday morning.

In the 4am incident, Juminah Rosadi and her family were all fast asleep when suddenly they were awakened by a loud noise before the roof of their new home were blown off by strong winds.

Juminah and her five children, Nurhamijah Hamdu, 22, Azizah Mohd Abdul, 18, Rezduan, 15, Azman, 13, and Norafendi, 11, together with her grandchildren Noranisa Abdullah, four, and three-year-old Norwahida were forced to run out of their home to safe while standing under heavy rain.

“The strong winds carried the roof of my house away while the ceiling almost collapsed on us where we were sleeping.

“We were fortunate to be able to leave the house on time before the ceiling collapsed.

“This is the worst incident we experienced since living here some years back,” said Juminah when met at her damaged house yesterday.

Prior to the incident, Juminah claimed to have dreamt of being bitten by a white snake, which is said to bring bad luck.

“I woke up from the dream and was shocked to see the roof of my house almost collapsed on my family.

“I immediately woke them up and we ran out of the house just in time to save ourselves from danger,” she said, adding that the strong wind had blown the kitchen roofs while the living room was about to collapse.

Juminah was only able to pray for her family’s safety during the whole incident, which subsided about 30 minutes later.

“I was holding on tightly to both my grandchildren and praying that nothing would happen to them.

“Thank God none of my family was injured during the incident,” she said, adding that the family would be staying at a neighbour’s house for the moment.

More than 10 houses that were built near the seafront were damaged by the heavy rain and strong winds caused by Typhoon Nesat yesterday.

Putatan MP Marcus Majigoh, who visited to the affected houses promised to provide assistance to the victims.