FLOODS A fireman spent the night sleeping by the roadside in the cold after his boat got stranded when fast-flowing floodwaters swept it away from the rest of the rescue team in the Machang district.

Recounting his experience last Friday, Wan Asri Wan Yaacob said he had for company two colleagues and three villagers of Kampung Mata whom they had rescued.

The swift-flowing floodwaters shoved the boat across the river to Kampung Kursial in the Tanah Merah district, he told Bernama .

Wan Asri and his colleagues had to go without food as well that night as they gave the ration in the boat to the three villagers.

Ketereh Fire and Rescue chief Mohd Rafain Mat Zin said fire and rescue personnel had to put up with all kinds of situations during the rescue operation.

Mohd Rafain said that in one incident, several villagers scolded them, saying they had come late to deliver aid.

"They, of course, did not know that we had to rescue 300 people earlier from an area where the floodwaters had risen suddenly," he told Bernama .

- Bernama

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