MARAN: Floods have turned the prominent Sri Marathandavar Aalayam temple in Sungai Jerik here into a veritable island, cut off on all sides by murky water.
Heavy rain since yesterday resulted in the nearby Sungai Jerik to burst its banks early this morning, sending floodwaters gushing into the temple compound.
Even the main road in front of the temple was inundated by 1.5m of water and is now impassable to all vehicles.
Temple president G. Ramakrishnan said the temple building was surrounded by water from the river which flows just behind the premises.
"It is still raining and the water has reached the temple and office staircase. A huge volume of river water from upstream gushed into the temple area....the temple is now closed.
"The row of shops in front of the temple is also partly submerged while the nearby temple hostel and cafeteria is also affected. I was informed two vehicles including a trailer lorry are trapped in the flood along the road in front of the temple," he said when contacted today.
Ramakrishnan said the daily pooja (prayer) conducted at the temple has been temporarily halted until the situation improves.
"To prevent damage, the priest moved some of the prayer items to a higher area. Even the cooking utensils in the kitchen have been moved to the first floor of the hostel building....we were prepared and have taken the necessary measures.
"Flash floods hit the temple less than a month ago but the situation was not this bad. We hope the rain will stop soon as the flood waters will usually quickly recede when the rain stops," he said.
In 2017, the temple was closed for several days after its compound including the hostel, cafeteria and shops were partly submerged.
The 129-year old temple which is surrounded by an oil palm plantation attracts some 450,000 Hindu devotees annually during the annual 'Panguni Uthiram' festival between March and April.
Several videos of the floods at the temple have been shared by netizens including one where some people were travelling on a boat towards the temple. It is learnt that the group on the boat were villagers living nearby.