‘Is this the end of the world?’

While the villagers of Kampung Sungai Lui have learnt to live with floods every year, many thought they would not survive the deluge on Saturday.

HULU LANGAT:

Nor Saadah Ahmad Rus has spent recent days rummaging through the mountain of debris left behind by the floods that destroyed her home.

Her sorrow is palpable, but the 56-year-old seems resigned to the tragedy that befell her village last weekend.

“Who are we to question the will of the Almighty?” she said when met at Kampung Sungai Lui, where floods left villagers without electricity, clean water and food for five days.

While the floods are an annual occurrence that Saadah has learnt to live with, the deluge on Saturday was different — one that made her believe she might not survive the night.

Volunteers, rescue personnel and heavy machinery at work at Kampung Sungai Lui after the floodwaters subsided. (Bernama pic)

It was a harrowing experience, she said.

“The water rose swiftly. I kept asking myself, ‘Is this the end of the world?’” Saadah said, adding that her roof was almost submerged by 9pm, an hour after raging waters gushed into her home.

“All we could do was recite prayers.”

Cars belonging to the villagers were severely damaged by the floods in Kampung Sungai Lui.

Then, the power went out, making it difficult for Saadah and her husband to see what was happening.

“We heard these loud, continuous bangs. Maybe it was the sound of trees crashing on our neighbour’s home.

“We could hear people screaming for help.”

Nor Saadah Ahmad Rus (right), standing in front of her damaged house, sharing with Enon Muhamed (left) her scary experience when the floods hit her home at Kampung Sungai Lui.

Her neighbour, Enon Mohamed, 60, and her husband — a stroke survivor — as well as their three children managed to save themselves and joined Saadah and her husband on her rooftop.

From 10pm to 7am the next day, the seven sat huddled, waiting for the waters to recede.

While Enon was relieved her family was safe, she was heartbroken that the place she had called home for 40 years was levelled in the blink of an eye.

Ramli Ahmad checking on what remains of his damaged house at Kampung Sungai Lui.

In Kampung Batu 19, some 10 minutes away from Saadah’s home, Ramli Ahmad, 49, and his family began frantically saving their important documents when the water level started rising at 8pm.

Floodwaters, he recalled, began slamming the verandah violently, before water reached the roof in what seemed like barely minutes.

The access road to Kampung Sungai Lui has been badly damaged by the floods and can only be used by motorcyclists.

Fortunately, he and his family managed to flee the area in a boat before their entire house was swallowed by floodwaters.

But with the powerful currents tossing the boat in the dark, Ramli soon lost control of it. He said it was at that moment that the entire family reconciled with the fact that they could all perish.

Only the steps to the entrance of a house are left standing in Kampung Sungai Lui in the aftermath of the devastating floods.

Fate had other plans, though. They were saved when the boat got lodged in a thick grove of bamboo trees.

“We were stuck there till 6am,” he recalled.

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‘Is this the end of the world?’

Hulu Langat flood victims recall how they had stared death in the face and could only pray.