Serian residents see silver lining after floods wash tons of sand to their doorsteps

0

Jali Isman

KUCHING (Feb 5): It was a blessing in disguise when some residents in Kampung Melayu Tebakang in Serian near here collected tonnes of sand which began to gather at their homes after the recent floods.

Jali Isman, 52, said the sand piled up at his house when the flood hit his village as a result of heavy downpours since Tuesday.

“It may be a blessing in disguise for us here because there are families who can collect tons of sand washed by the flood to their houses.

“This sand was brought to us during the recent flood, so we just clear it from our homes, and store it for either future use or sale,” he told Utusan Borneo here today.

Piles of sand sitting in front of a house.

Jali said the water level in his village had started to recede since early yesterday morning.

According to him, villagers have started cleaning their houses, some of whom have begun cleaning as early as 3am.

A brief visit around the village also found piles of sand sitting in front of most of the houses.

It is made to understand that the price of sand can go up to RM40 per ton.

Elsewhere in Serian, villagers were seen busy with ‘gotong-royong’ (cleaning campaigns) after the flood situation had improved.

In Kampung Tebakang Dayak, a resident identified as Safrin, 49, said the recent flood was among the worst since 2016.

He said floods occurred almost on an annual basis, but this year’s seemed quite bad and could be the worst in recent years.

“But we are grateful that no untoward incidents have occurred,” he added.