‘Like an ocean’: Malaysians recall race against rising waters after major flood

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By Hasnoor Hussain

KANGAR, Malaysia (Reuters) -Gon Qasim and her husband were about to flee their home in Malaysia’s northern Perlis state last weekend when rising floodwaters cut off road access, leaving them stranded in the middle of a field. 

The elderly couple were eventually rescued by one of their children living nearby and taken to an evacuation centre in the state capital of Kangar, where hundreds of other families were also sheltering in tents provided by the national disaster management agency.  

“I was inside, and I couldn’t go out. When I was out, there was nowhere to stay but the field,” the 73-year-old Gon said, recalling her ordeal in an interview on Wednesday.  

“The water was like the ocean. That’s what it looked like.”

Unusually heavy rain in Perlis, which borders southern Thailand, has caused severe flooding across many parts of the state since last week, displacing more than 7,000 people from their homes, according to official data.

More than 34,000 people have been evacuated nationwide, the data showed.   

Sitting in a tent at the Kangar shelter, NorZafilini Al-Zakiri, 35, recounted how she was forced to leave her home due to the flooding, just weeks after giving birth to her third child.

The floodwater quickly inundated her home but she managed to bring herself and her children to safety with the help of a volunteer, she said. 

“We weren’t able to go far… The water was too fast, usually it rose slowly but this time it streamed fast and just went on,” she said, while cradling her newborn.

“With the baby and kids we’re so scared because we need to keep them safe, but I fight my fears and slowly rebuild here.”

(Reporting by Mandy Leong and Hasnoor Hussain; Writing by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by David Stanway)