KUALA BERANG – Every year end, a provision shop owner in Kg Paya Besar here will be in distress, knowing she will have to bear thousands of ringgit in losses when her business premises is inundated.
Fatimah Yasin, 62, a single mother to nine children, said this year alone she suffered losses of over RM30,000 after her premises were flooded three times.
She said that since the floodwaters rose quickly, she had no time to move the goods to higher ground.
“As for bigger items, like the refrigerator and television, I had earlier told my son who lives in a neighbouring village, to store them on the shelves that have been built higher up.
“However, I could not salvage most of the retail items because the storage room is very small… I can’t fit everything in,” she said when met at her shop, which is also her residence, in Kg Paya Besar today.
Fatimah said although fatigued and having to bear huge losses, she cannot afford to move to another location due to financial constraints as she has had to fork out large sums of money to replace all the damaged items each time her premises is inundated.
“I’ve only been trading for three days after being hit by floods on December 14. I had hardly cleaned up after that incident when the flood struck again.
“If I had a choice I would look for another site, but I run a small business in this village – I don’t make much money,” she said.
She added that although she is a single mother with no stable financial resources, she never received any assistance from any agency.
“I have made many applications but they were all rejected with various excuses. I hope this time they will help me repair my house a little…I live alone and each night I cannot sleep properly because the room wall is about to collapse,” she said.
Meanwhile, another flood victim in Kg Batu Tiga here lost nearly RM10,000 after the furniture and electrical items which she bought just two months ago were damaged due to the flood.
According to 52-year-old Haslinda Mohd Zanggi, she had no time to save the items because the floodwaters rose quickly up to the chest level in just three hours.
“The water rose very fast on Sunday (December 24). I was teaching at a kindergarten and my husband was at work in Kuala Berang town.
“We did not have time to return home to save anything,” she said when met at a Tabika Kemas nearby today. – December 29, 2023