MIRI: Thousands of roadusers using the Pan Borneo Highway road linking Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak were cut off after it was hit by flood reaching four feet near Kampung Batu Danau yesterday afternoon.
The water level was reported to be between 3 to 4 feet high and is expected to rise higher today due to the king tide.
Limbang Disaster and Relief Operation centre chairman, deputy resident for Limbang, Selamat Jati said that road was not accessible since 1pm yesterday.
He added that the area flooded was after the Batu Danau bridge over Limbang river which is overflowing due to heavy rainfall in the upper area of Medamit.
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| Aerial view of Batu Danau Bridge in Limbang, also seen is the overflowing river. |
“We are hoping the water level in the flooded areas including kampungs, longhouses and schools will subside,” Selamat said.
Batu Danau State Assemblyman Paulus Palu Ngumbang who is overseeing the flood situation in Ukong disclosed that the water level in the Medamit areas have gone down three feet.
“Our fear if it rains up in Ulu Limbang, water will flow downriver crossing Medamit, Batu Danau and its surrounding Limbang river banks and the water level will increased following king tide,” Paulus said.
He called on villagers to move to higher ground or to evacuation centres.
Meanwhile, Councillor Kungee Sandhu said that the water level had increased after the river upstream from Nanga Medamit had overflowed downwards to Batu Danau.
Kungee who is from Batu Danau said that a Toyota Hilux from Brunei trying to cross the flooded road was carried away by strong currents. There were no casualties.
He advised roadusers not to venture crossing the flooded stretch of road as it could be life-threatening.
As of 9am today, he said, the water level was stagnant, however the weather is cloudy and with King Tide the water level expected to rise up.
Meanwhile, Nur Khairunisa Abdullah, a roaduser, who contacted the Borneo Post yesterday said she was lucky to not be stuck in the flood near Kampung Batu Danau as of 1.10pm, the water level was about to rise.
She said that she had to drive her car slowly for five minutes to brave the flood water before reaching higher ground.
“This flood is the worst so far, the last was a decade ago,” she said.
Another roaduser, Cecelia Lim said that she was scared as the road was filled with water still coming fast from Limbang river.
She described the incident as panicking seeing a long queue of vehicles lining up to cross the flooded road while the water was rising.
“I’m relieved that I can cross back to Limbang and as I know today the road is cut off due to water levels increasing,” she said further.
According to Kungee, Kampung Pengkalan Madang, Kpg Pengkalan Jawa, Kpg Batu Danau were flooded as of today in the Batu Danau area.
He said 138 people were provided temporary shelter at Kampung Bidang community hall and that SK Ukong, SK Pengkalan Jawa, SK Kualawang, SK Tanjong, SK Batu Danau and SK Lubok Tengkurok were affected by flood.
The flood in Nanga Medamit is subsiding now, he added.
At the time of writing, it is not known when the road can be used, although there are reports of lorry drivers managing to cross the flood prone area.
Sumber - BorneoPost Online
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