Heavy rain, high tides put Pulau Perhentian villagers on alert as monsoon season begins

JERTIH, October 27 — As the Northeast Monsoon season commences, villagers from Pulau Perhentian are taking proactive measures to safeguard their homes against the potential impact of heavy rain and high tides. Azizah Ab Rahman, a 59-year-old resident, expressed concern over the vulnerability of low-lying areas, such as Kampung Tengah, which have been known to flood up to a meter deep when rainwater struggles to drain into the sea due to high tide.

In anticipation of this, Azizah has begun relocating essential household items to higher elevations, seeking assistance from neighbors to move heavier objects like her refrigerator and washing machine. Despite the fact that flash floods typically subside within a few hours following the cessation of rainfall, Azizah emphasized the importance of early preparation to mitigate potential damage to property and household items.

Another resident, 36-year-old Hayatunnupus Nawawi, also took preventive action by elevating her refrigerator to a platform approximately 1.5 meters above ground level to shield it from floodwaters. Nawawi, a mother of two young children, five and nine years old, and her paralyzed husband Ali Abdullah, 36, maintains that the refrigerator was moved to this permanent platform following last year's flood incident due to its difficulty in relocation during subsequent flooding events.

Nik Zawawi Mohd Nor, chairman of the Pulau Perhentian Village Development and Security Committee, reported that around 30 houses are typically impacted during flooding episodes in the village. Nor attributed this to the occurrence of heavy rain concurrently with high tides during the monsoon season, which hinders efficient drainage of water into the sea.

He noted that flooding generally persists for approximately two hours and may transpire multiple times throughout the monsoon season, contingent on rainfall patterns and tidal conditions.