No rain or flood will stop my daughter’s wedding, says Kuching housewife

Flood over the weekend may have damaged Masni Ayub's home and furniture, but it will not stop her from going ahead with her daughter's wedding this Sunday. "Nothing will stop the special occasion. The wedding will go on even though there is no bed for the married couple to sleep on," said the 42-year-old housewife from Kuching of her daughter, Siti Norafiza Hamdi's wedding. "Most of the newly-purchased furniture for the wedding were damaged in the flood," Masni of Kampung Sg Maong Tengah added as she joined fellow villagers yesterday, looking at their houses that were damaged by the second wave of flood. The first wave occurred during the Chinese New Year celebration. With intermittent rainfall and occasional sunshine, Masni was beaming with hope and prayed hard that her 24-year-old daughter's wedding could go on as planned. "We are praying hard that it will not rain like last weekend," said Masni, and took The Malaysian Insider on a tour around her house. This is the fourth time Masni's home and the village was hit by flood this year. The village is also vulnerable due to its close proximity with the Sg Maong Tengah, a tributary of the great Sarawak river. Recalling the incident, Masni said when the flood warning sounded, her family started moving everything they could from the ground floor to the first floor. Despite that, there were still some heavy furniture that could not be carried up the stairs, as flood water started to seep into their house that Saturday afternoon. "It was fast. The water rose to my waist in the evening and it was really cold too," she said. She said her family, all nine of them, including a pregnant daughter and two grandchildren, had a sleepless night fearing the rain would not stop and the rising floodwater would submerge their house. Their fear, she said, was real as help was lacking and slow. This was because the two key departments tasked with flood evacuation and aid delivery – Civil Defence and Fire and Rescue Departments – were stretched to the limit that day. Those quickest to arrive were politicians, she said. One of them was Sii Hua Tong, a politician from the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) who came in a sampan that Sunday evening to distribute food packages to stranded families. Wanita PKR National Vice President Voon Shiak Ni and the party's pick for the new Batu Kitang seat in the coming state election said the government should look into ways to speed up the evacuation process such as providing more boats, open more relief centres and facilities for victims. Voon said the Civil Defence Department's response was good but they lacked necessary equipment, such as boats. However, the flood was sort of a "bonus" to a group of intrepid youngsters who took part in an invitational paintball competition at the Sumiran Eco Park in Rantau Panjang on the bank of the Sarawak river near Batu Kawa that weekend. They could not make it out of the camp because the only road leading to the camp, and the low lying surrounding areas, were all under water. "The camp was partly flooded," camp operator Suyanto Osman said. "Cut off and isolated, they considered their stay there a survival challenge. "They continued camping out, continued to do what they came to do (shoot each other) despite the heavy rain and high water." he said. – February 23, 2016.]]>