SRI AMAN, Nov 17: Longhouse villagers from Rh Morin, Bakong in Lingga had to break the deflector walls or barriers at each door ‘pintu’ in order to allow flood water to exit from their respective waterlogged house or ‘bileks’ last night following a heavy downpour.
The Sri Aman fire station responded to calls from the villagers at 8.19am when flood water as high as three metres deluged their 14-door longhouse.
It took five Sri Aman firefighters led by PBK II (KUP) Freddy John some 30 minutes to arrive at the longhouse which was located approximately 45km from the fire station.
After assessing the situation, the firefighters suggested that the villagers break the deflector wall at each doorway or ‘pintu’ while a portable pump was used to pump out the water.
The deflector wall is built at the entrance of each door to prevent water from entering into the ‘bilek’, but in this case, it retained stagnant flood water instead.
A total of 67 residents including 14 children were affected by the flood. — DayakDaily
