IN a tragic turn of events, residents in the Felda Kerteh cluster in Ketengah Jaya, Dungun, experienced flash floods for the first time in 40 years.

The unexpected floods, triggered by intense rainfall around 4pm, led to the evacuation of approximately 260 residents to temporary relief centres.

Felda Kerteh 1, Felda Kerteh 4, Felda Kerteh 6, and Ketengah Jaya were the most severely affected areas, leaving a profound impact on the residents, with some traumatised.

Nik Noorin Nor Ab Rahman, 59, recounted that she and her family were returning home to Felda Kerteh 1 from Kelantan when she received a call from her younger brother reporting that floodwaters had begun entering her house.

Initially dismissing it as not too serious, she was taken aback upon learning that the water had reached waist level outside her house, and several family vehicles were starting to be submerged.

“My brother called me, inquiring about the location of the car keys because he intended to move the vehicles due to the rapidly rising water. He eventually had to break the house windows to get them, but it was too late – the water had already submerged two cars and three motorcycles.

“Not long after that, our family reached the main road, but the cars couldn’t navigate the flooded area. Fortunately, a resident driving a tractor at the time helped us by taking us to our house,” she said when interviewed at her home today.

Seeing her house inundated, the woman, who runs a food stall in front of her house, felt helpless.

“I couldn’t even muster the strength to hold the phone to inform other family members about it.

“Almost all items in and out of the house are damaged. The house was also left empty as we did not anticipate such a calamity,” she said, estimating her family’s losses to be over RM50,000.

Marina Husain, a resident of Ketengah Jaya, expressed her distress over the incident that has left her traumatised. The continuous rain has only added to her anxiety, even though it’s not as heavy as the day before.

Recalling those anxious moments, the mother of four, said it took only about 15 minutes for the water to rise to thigh level.

“Fortunately, my husband was at home at that time, and he quickly placed our youngest child on a higher ground. We didn’t know which items to save first, only took important documents before rushing to a safe place with my 72-year-old mother.

“I was truly panicked facing such a situation for the first time. It doesn’t make sense, if you ask me, for a flash flood to happen like that,” said Marina, who spent the night at her mother’s house last night.

A check by Bernama found significant damage from the flash flood, with the management offices of Felda Kerteh 4 and Felda Kerteh 6 experiencing structural damage to the land and fences.

The incident in Ketengah Jaya has resulted in the highest total number of flood evacuees in the third wave in Dungun, reaching 1,220 people as of 2pm today.

In addition to Dungun, five other districts are Hulu Terengganu with 728 people, Kemaman (361 people), Setiu (215 people), Besut (106 people), and Marang (12 people), making a total of 2,642 evacuees seeking refuge in 53 relief centres, according to data from the Terengganu state disaster management committee secretariat. – Bernama, December 25, 2023