Anxious students flee Kelantan floods by air
University students in flooded Kelantan have thronged the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport in Kota Baru as they attempt to leave the state.
The Star Online reported today that the students made a "mad rush" to the airport as the flood water continued to rise.
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) student Chuah Chia Ying, 21, told the English news portal that students at her university were getting worried as the water level had been rising near the students' residence.
"So, a group of us decided to sleep over at the airport,” said the student who was flying to Subang on transit to Penang, where she is from.
Chuah described the disaster as an unforgettable experience and said they were left with nowhere to go as hotels near the airport were fully booked.
"Everywhere near the airport are fully booked. We didn't know where else we could go. We also have to take care of our belongings," she said.
The portal also quoted Economics student Siow Lean Hin, 21, who said they reached the airport early so they would not miss their flights.
“We heard some of the flights were postponed. We just want to go home. We came early and slept on the floor,” he said.
Another student Chua Sin Ying, 21, told The Star Online that they had been cold and uncomfortable but they had food.
She said three people in uniform had distributed packed food and drinks at 3am at the airport, which she was grateful for, since not many shops were open at the time.
The portal also reported that airport toilets had been used by travellers for showers while the automated teller machines (ATM) there were not operational.
Some flood victims were also sleeping in their cars in the parking lot of the Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital in Kubang Kerian.
Siti Mariah Ab Majib, 28, told The Star Online that they had no choice but to stay in their cars until the flood recedes.
She said she had stayed in a surau at first but decided to move to the parking lot when she woke up to discover her purse stolen.
Elsewhere, some victims of the flood were driven to desperation and looted supermarkets in search of food.
An IT engineer, known only as Jack, told The Star Online that people were desperate due to the shortage of food and clean water.
He said the situation, however, escalated quickly from small scuffles for foodstuff to blatant stealing.
“They are trapped in an ‘island’. They cannot go out of Kota Baru to get food,” he said, adding that there were not enough boats to bring in donated supplies in time.
Flood victim Tan Tiong Lee, 61, from Kuala Krai said many were left hungry after being trapped by the floods, which rose rapidly up to a metre within an hour.
The man, who had been stranded on the roof of his house for three hours, said the looting incidents occurred because residents were not prepared for the unexpected severity of the disaster.
“We cannot blame these people. We were so hungry that even expired bread looked appetising. Water was so scarce, we only had enough to clean ourselves once every three days,” he was quoted as saying.
Tan said he learned from other flood victims that supermarkets had been broken into for liquefied petroleum gas and foodstuff.
"They said the looters entered through the second floor as the ground floor was submerged in water,” he claimed.
However, Tan said there were also victims who went out of their way to help others in Kuala Krai.
He told The Star Online of a Malay stall that was collecting supplies and cooking donated food for the whole village.
He said he and a few villagers rented a boat for RM50 every evening to help the stall owner distribute food to houses and flood relief centres.
The situation in the village improved yesterday with emergency supplies slowly reaching the village, the portal reported.
Yesterday, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said relief efforts had been hampered due to the lack of landing space for helicopters sending in relief teams.
It was reported that the number of people evacuated to date has gone up to over 160,000. Rescue and relief efforts have intensified in Kelantan, Terengganu, Perak, Johor, Perlis and Selangor. – December 28, 2014.
