Izan’s colleague showing how high the water rose during the flash flood on June 1.
PUTATAN: Shop owners affected by the flash flood on June 1 said that it was the first time they experienced such a phenomenon there.
A woman running a tailoring shop, Izan, said that her colleague was nearly electrocuted as she tried to shift the electrical wiring to some place higher.
By then, the water had already entered the shop and they were struggling to salvage the fabrics sent by their clients to the shop as well as their electrical sewing equipment.
“The water rose to about knee length before the rain stopped,” she said.
She also said that cars travelling along the road also created waves that rolled into shops, bringing in various floating objects including mud.
“When the water subsided, our shop was filled with mud. We spent several hours cleaning up,” she said.
Her colleague shared that the floating objects included chairs and tables from other shops.
Meanwhile, the Sabah Meteorological Department shared that the Putatan Auxiliary station registered 139.6 millimeters of rain between 1 pm and 5 pm on June 1.
The department’s director, Amirzudi Hashim said that this rainfall is considered high within the five hour duration.
“In such instances, the drainage system will not be able to deal with the huge amount of water which causes flash floods to occur. However, when the rain stops, the water recedes swiftly,” he said.
In a statement he shared, it was mentioned that there was a concentration of wind at Sabah’s west coast and interiors during the period.