When most villagers in Segamat district were busy cleaning their flood-devastated homes, labourer Razak Komeng, 64, and his family could only watch helplessly as their kampung house at the edge of Kampung Bukit Senggir remained inundated.
“When it rains heavily, my house will be the first to get flooded and the last to dry out when waters recede,” he said.
The village is between Sungai Muar and Sungai Kenawar, and the large volume of water that was making its way downstream from Buloh Kasap got trapped in the low-lying plot of land where Razak’s home is.
It was frustrating to look at when waters had receded at Razak’s neighbour’s single-storey bungalow, which was on higher ground.
“It was the same during the last big flood in 2011. My house remained flooded for a month, while my neighbours had begun moving back in,” he said when he checked on his home with his wife, Faridah Biru, 56, a week ago.
Razak and Faridah were among thousands who were evacuated from their homes as floods wreaked havoc in eight districts in Johor last month.
At the height of the disaster on Jan 25, more than 9,000 people were evacuated to temporary relief centres in eight districts. It has been two weeks since the floods began, but the effects are still evident.
The last 30 evacuees, from six families, who were housed at a relief centre in Balai Raya Batu Badak, Segamat, returned home at 3pm yesterday. They were not allowed to return home earlier because much of the area was either inundated or covered in 10cm of mud.
Experts are looking into the cause of the disaster. Uncertain weather patterns greatly contributed to the floods this time. There was a record amount of rainfall in the worst-hit district of Segamat in the first two days of the flood.
Johor Health and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat said 432mm of rainfall was recorded in Segamat on Jan 23 and Jan 24, which was when floodwaters began to rise in the district.
It was among the highest rainfall for a continuous period since the last big floods in Johor in January 2011. At the time, Segamat recorded about 500mm of rainfall in just two days.
The data being gathered by the authorities will provide clues to understanding the change in weather.
Irregular rainfall patterns must be looked into, and the dry spell that Johor experienced in the past two years must also be factored in.
A source told the New Straits Times that the huge amount of rainfall in Segamat in the first two days of the floods was a pattern that was supposed to occur once in 120 years.
“With climate change, much of the weather patterns that experts are familiar with are no longer relevant.”
“In the last two years, some areas in Johor received a fraction of the rainfall it was supposed to receive. But this year, some areas recorded large amounts of rainfall in only two days.”
The Johor government had made early preparations for the floods in December. There were warning systems, such as the alarms set up by the Drainage and Irrigation Department at rivers in Kota Tinggi to warn villagers that waters were rising. These methods made a big difference and saved many lives and property.
Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin has directed local councils and district offices to study the recent floods and reexamine flood-prone areas. The data would be passed to agencies such as the Department of Environment, Drainage and Irrigation Department and National Disaster Management Agency.
Ahmad Fairuz Othman is NST Johor bureau chief. When not working, he loves driving along the coastal highway and trunk roads of Johor. A lover of food, music and theatre, he recommends everyone to try Johor’s version of 'ais kacang', which is drenched in chocolate sauce