BALING: Located about one kilometre from the Gulau-Baling trunk road, villagers in the remote Kampung Teluk Rambung enjoyed a peaceful life, surrounded by durian orchards and pristine small river streams known as 'carok' among rural folks in Kedah.
However, the tranquil life of some 20 families was shattered when the village was ravaged by debris floods on Sept 30.
The floods, which they claimed as the worst ever in the village's history, left a visible trail of destruction with three steel bridges in the village being washed away.
The river streams are clogged by timber logs and tree trunks and mud washed down from the upper stream Bukit Lata Putih.
The villagers claimed that the debris floods were caused by landslides at a former logging site uphill, abandoned by the concessionaire four years ago.
Ramli Che Teh, 58, said the incident struck following heavy rainfall that started about 8pm.
"At about 10pm, this area was flooded with strong currents washing down logs from the abandoned logging site. Later, we heard a series of loud explosions before discovering that three steel bridges were destroyed.
"I was born and raised here. All my life, I have never seen this village flooded, except for several houses located in the lower ground near the riverbank," he said.
Ramli said the floods only began receding the next morning and the villagers were stunned by the level of destruction left by the debris floods, and how it has changed the village's landscape.
"The sight sent shivers down my spine. We immediately remember the same incident as the tragedy that befallen Kampung Iboi in Kupang two years ago.
"We are worried that a similar tragedy could happen here as landslides are still happening on the slopes of Bukit Lata Putih since it is still raining heavily in the evening here," he said, adding that at least 10 durian trees were destroyed by the floods.
His sister, Zuraidah, 47, shared her ordeal of being trapped in her house for three hours with her daughter, Nur Shuhada Nor Hizam, 8.
"My husband was away at work in Kuala Lumpur, so it was just my daughter and me at home during the incident.
"It was scary. We have never been hit by floods before," she said.
Zuraidah said they had wanted to leave the house when it was inundated by a half-metre floodwaters but were prevented from doing so by the strong current that washed down logs and tree trunks.
"All we could do was pray. Alhamdulillah, finally at about 1am, rescuers from the Malaysia Civil Defence Force were able to reach our house."We were rescued in a boat and were later sent to the SK Tanjung Pari temporary flood relief centre," she said.
Her husband, Nor Hizam Yusop, 47, who rushed back the next day, said all their furniture was damaged by the floods, with estimated losses of at least RM10,000.
"The house and lawn were covered by nearly half a metre-deep mud. We are grateful for the volunteers who have helped with the cleaning up works," he said.
The volunteers also worked with the villagers to build three temporary wooden bridges.
However, one of the bridges located near 46-year-old villager Mohd Naim Asri Baharom's house was destroyed by the second flood that ravaged the village on Wednesday.
"This house, which I inherited from my late parents, used to be hit by flash floods, but the recent flooding was the worst that we have ever seen," said Naim, when met after retrieving some belongings from the house.