Residents experience stagnant floodwaters in Batu Pahat

BATU PAHAT, March 9 (Bernama) -- The hot weather since last Tuesday has  not been a 'guarantee' that the floods in Batu Pahat will recede soon and that residents' activities will return to normal.

Flood victim, Khairi Johari Basri, 64, who lives in Parit Khalid, said that although the weather here is improving, flood waters continue to rise following overflow from Segamat district and Bekok Dam here.

“Many residents are still taking shelter at temporary relief centres although the weather has been hpt since the last three days due to rising floodwaters,” he told Bernama.

Sharing a similar sentiment, 59-year-old Kamal Yaman Mohd Salleh described the current flood situation as stagnant flooding and will recede slowly in the next six days if it does not rain.

He added that such situations are often experienced by local residents and can take up to several months to fully recover.

He also said the floods this year were the second worst after 2006, and would take about one month for the waters to recede.

“Most of us are small-scale farmers, and with a flood situation like this, we cannot continue our farming activities and will lose our source of income. We hope the relevant authorities will address this problem,” he added.

Checks by Bernama around Batu Pahat found that some areas, including roads are still flooded and  causing traffic jams because only one road is passable.

It was also seen that some residents in certain areas are trying to wade through the floods to return home after experiencing the hot weather conditions.

Meanwhile, a septuagenarian was dumb struck when the floods that occurred in 1970, recurred in Kampung Parit Lapis Bangas, Sri Medan, which she described as the worst ever.

Painah Hidol, 71, said the water depth had risen to almost two metres this year, similar to the incident 53 years ago when her house was submerged , but she and her family escaped.

"The area here (Parit Lapis Bangas) is not like it has never been affected by floods, it does happen  but only at calf or knee level...unlike now (2023) it is quite deep.

“In the 1970s, the flood took almost two months to recede,” she told Bernama when met a the Masjid Jamik Kampung Parit Lapis Bangas PPS today.

-- BERNAMA