Downpour brings gloom to residents

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The access roads to the houses in Sia’s neighbourhood flooded with up to waist-deep water.

The gate into Sia’s house.

KUCHING: It was a gloomy day for Sunny Wong yesterday afternoon when flood water crept into the compound of his house at Jalan Gold Jade here.

The gate into Wong’s house under shin-deep water.

He told The Borneo Post that his area would start flooding every time there was heavy downpour for more than an hour.

Water seen starting to rise in Wong’s house compound.

It was shin-deep when he was contacted by The Borneo Post.

“Today (yesterday), water started rising around 4.15pm and started flowing from the road in front of my house to the mid-section of Jalan Gold Jade.

“Vehicles driving through didn’t slow down, causing the flood water to rush faster into the compound,” Wong lamented, adding that he would get anxious and have sleepless nights when it rained heavily at night.

While he has raised complaints with the Kuching City North Commission (DBKU), the council cannot do much to abate the situation, he said.

A makeshift barrier set up by Wong at every door into his house to prevent flood water from going in.

“I complained to DBKU because the main drainage around the area is causing problems and the drain in front of my house is silted with mud and so on.

“DBKU did study the flooding problem before and they raised the drain invert level higher from my road to Jalan Cross. That is why the flooding happens so fast.”

He added that he has adopted an ‘always be prepared’ mentality during the rainy season and has gotten used to the situation.

“I even constructed door barriers around the house, which helps all this while,” Wong said.

Meanwhile, Stampin resident SL Chai lamented that the rainy season affects her daily activities, to the point where she cannot go to work or even leave the house.

“It gets very troublesome too, as I need to clean up after the flood. Especially at this time of the year, when I need to do spring cleaning in preparation for Christmas and Chinese New Year,” she said.

Over at Tong Wei Tah near Taman Timberland here, Sia said the roads to his house and neighbourhood were submerged in up to waist-deep water.

He said some neighbours attempted to drive their car through the flood but ended up with their vehicles showing engine warning lights.

“The problem arises during flash floods as the neighbourhood is a cul de sac (dead end street). Once it’s flooded everyone is trapped within their own homes,” he told The Borneo Post.

So far, he said, none of the houses in the neighbourhood were inundated, only the access roads.

“Although the monsoon drain has been deepened, I do not think the changes made are sufficient to cope with heavy downpours. The bottleneck during heavy rain results in flash floods,” he added.

A resident of Iris Garden, Thomas Lim, said two cars were stranded in the two-and-a-half-foot deep water near his house.

“The road was impassable for small cars for over an hour earlier,” he said.

Lim said the flood happened every year and the worst was when it was about three and a half feet deep.

“Most residences with auto gate were submerged in severe flash floods. Rubbish bins floated hundreds of metres away from the houses. Many living rooms could be underwater during more severe occurrences,” he said, adding residents had grown tired of the flash flooding though numerous reports had been made to the local authorities to mitigate it.

He said they were only told that the problem was with the downstream drainage system which directed the water to the Sarawak River,

“Some residents informed that the flash floods started only after construction of the barrage in early 2000s.

“Personally, I think the problem could be reduced by raising the road level another two feet. So we really hope there is something government agencies can do to solve our problems,” added Ling.

A road user Then Chieng Ping said traffic was slower than usual during yesterday’s rush hour because certain sections of the roads were flooded.

“I was heading home from work at Sejingkat to Muara Tabuan through Jalan Setia Raja and the traffic was slower than usual because several sections of the road were flooded,” he said.

Fortunately, he added, it was a school holiday, so the situation was not that grave.