More than 10 villages at the foot of Gunung Jerai as well as many housing areas around the towns of Yan, Gurun and Merbok, Kedah were hit by flash floods due to heavy rain.
Photo via The Star
According to Astro AWANI, a victim, Mohammad Firdaus who lives in the area, said the incident happened at 3 pm yesterday (August 18th) and it happened very quickly and unexpectedly.
“It was raining heavily since morning at Gunung Jerai, but below, the rain was not so heavy. Suddenly at 3 pm, a water column came cascading down from the Seri Perigi waterfall. The currents were so strong and flowed heavily, which destroyed the area,” he said.
He also said that the villages at the foot of Gunung Jerai were badly affected with nearby rivers the worst hit.
Yan, which is located by the sea, also experienced bad floods.
“The sea-level happened to be high, which meant that the flood waters did not recede quickly,” he said.
The fire and rescue department said it received many reports on the floods and were conducting rescue operations.
Photo via The Star
Meanwhile, the flash floods have washed away three people, as reported by The Star.
The two were later safe and unhurt, but one is still missing.
They are all employees of Jerai Hill Resort, three of whom are in their 30s, whereas the missing man is in his 40s.
Kedah Menteri Besar, Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has denied allegations that have gone viral on social media that the floods in several villages and residential areas in the Gunung Jerai area in Yan were caused by logging activities.
“The first report was received at about 5:30 pm today. The floods were caused by continuous heavy rains in the Gunung Jerai area and water swiftly flowed down the foot of the mountain, involving Sungai Kunyit, Sungai Teroi and Sungai Puteri Mandi.
“There are no logging activities around Gunung Jerai because the area has been gazetted as a forest reserve,” he said as reported by BERNAMA.
The floods were actually due to water surges from the waterfall areas at the foot of the mountain area.
Among the affected locations were areas at the foot of the mountain and those near the rivers, namely Perigi, Teroi Bukit, Sungkir, Kampung Permatang Keramat, Kampung Lubuk Boi, Pekan Yan Besar, Titi Teras, Kampung Acheh and Kampung Setoi.
This is terrible! We hope that everyone is okay!
By: Aishah Akashah Ahadiat
