PENAMPANG – “The worst flood in decades”, as locals here call it, destroyed almost all of Sabinus Francis’ belongings, as it did for thousands of others in the district last Sunday.
The 60-year-old banker said he lived in a flood-prone area and was confident he could read the signs and predict a major flood before it occurred, but this time he was wrong.
“The flood caught all of us off-guard, we almost did not survive the night. I did not expect the water to rise so fast,” he told Scoop.
Sabinus said it started raining heavily at about 1pm on Sunday, and he and family members began moving items to higher parts of the house at around 2pm. When the rain still had not stopped, Sabinus took his wife, his 15-year-old son, and their pets out of the house and drove his double-cab Hilux to his sister-in-law’s house.
They almost did not make it because the floodwaters rose suddenly and so rapidly that most of the roads were flooded.
“We saw rescue boats and police boats on the road while we were driving. We braved the road and escaped the flooded area. We only managed to escape because we took early precautions and had a four-wheel drive.
“I could not imagine how others spent their nights,” he said.
Before Sunday, Sabinus said that the worst flood he had ever experienced was in 2016 at his house in Kg Hungab, Penampang. Although that home had been flooded several times, the water level had only reached his knees.
“This time, the water level was higher than me. Previously, my estimated losses were about RM65,000 worth of belongings and properties that year (in 2016), and since then, we have learned to store most items at a higher level, where we keep our electronics and other important items.
“But this time, we lost everything because the flood level was higher than me,” he said.
On Monday, Sabinus returned to his house to find that everything he owned was damaged and covered in mud.
Although he was grateful that no one in his family was harmed, Sabinus said he could not deny the devastating feeling of losing all his belongings.
“Nothing was untouched by the flood. My work clothes… all gone. The television, the refrigerator… all gone. My sofa, which I had only bought in December last year, we did not even get to use it for one full year.
“I am devastated and heartbroken, and I still don’t know what I am going to do after this,” he said.
Friends and relatives who were not affected by the flood came to help clean his house in a “gotong-royong” session.
While grateful for their help, Sabinus said the condition of his house was still like a “dumpsite”, and it would take more than a couple of days to get the house cleaned.
Frustrated, he does not even think of monetary aid from the government as compensation when asked if that would be of help.
Instead, he wants the state government to deliver on promises to improve infrastructure and flood mitigation projects.
“Please, just fix the irrigation in Penampang. It is a project that never gets completed. We keep changing the government, and every time it happens, the project has to be restarted. This is a never-ending problem. Please just complete it,” he said. – July 3, 2024