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Nightmare of Tropical Storm Greg recalled, as houses swept away

KENINGAU: The incident which saw 10 houses being swept away by strong currents at Pampang river on Saturday was similar to such an incident during Tropical Storm Greg struck the area some two decades ago.

The storm on Dec 26, 1996 killed 238 people and 102 are still unaccounted for until today.

Kampung Pampang villager Umar Tahir, 63, said the torrent on Saturday night had started to erode the riverbank and the village area.

"Yesterday morning, I noticed that the river currents had started to sweep away debris and told my family to leave the house for safety.

“Luckily, the incident occurred during daytime as we could escape before the waters damaged our home,” he said, adding only the kitchen survived.

This is the second time Umar lost his house due to flooding.

Umar said he just built the house seven months ago, thinking the tropical storm Greg in 1996, which swept his house and almost killed the wife in the wee hours, would not happen again.

He added the new house was built far from the river, about 50 metres, but they were still unlucky.

Meanwhile, another tropical Greg storm victim Ferding Asmawil, 51, said the flood situation on Sunday prompted him to rescue his six children aged between 1 and 20 quickly.

“I moved out to Menggatal in Kota Kinabalu right after Greg and recently came back and built the house together with my sister Munang.

“Twenty over years had passed, but the experience of facing the tragedy then made me to act fast yesterday to ensure my family are safe.”

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