Fear and anxiety as people in Malaysia brace themselves for more floods

A car partially submerged in flood waters in Melaka on Jan 3, 2022. AFP

KUALA LUMPUR — When non-stop rain battered parts of Malaysia over the weekend, 40-year-old engineer Faizal Mohamad, who lives in Kuala Lumpur, rushed to his parents’ house in Melaka to check on them as they live next to the Melaka River.

“We moved my parents to my sister’s house, in case the river level rises due to the constant rain. We also stacked all the furniture and bought bricks to build a wall to stop water from coming inside the house,” Mr Faizal told The Straits Times (ST).

His parents have seen floods before, the last being in 2017, when their home was inundated with water almost up to knee-level.

Housewife Sharifa Mohd Shafi preparing for floods in Skudai, Johor, on Jan 1, 2022.  The Star/Asia News Network

Treacherous floods over the past two weeks in the country have led to fear and anxiety among many of those living in areas hit by torrential rain.

They are preparing for the worst, as more than 14,000 people had been displaced across six states – Johor, Melaka, Selangor, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Sabah – as at Monday (Jan 3), compared with 8,727 on Sunday.

In Johor alone, more than 4,700 people have been displaced from their homes. Several districts in the state, including Segamat, have been inundated.

A video of firefighters rescuing a motorcyclist in fast-moving flood waters in Pogoh, Segamat, was shared on social media on Monday.