SEGAMAT: She’s among the regular folk with little money to spare, yet she went all out to help stray animals caught in the floods.

       A food stall operator who only wanted to be known as Yue, 45, braved the floodwater by rowing a boat to the Buloh Kasap market to feed five stray dogs and two cats stranded there.

       “I visit the market daily to purchase ingredients for my food stall so I am familiar with the animals that loiter in the area. The poor animals have been seeking shelter in the market since the floodwater rose to about 1.8m high.

       “I purchased a few packets of rice with some meat and veggies for the animals,” said Yue, 45.

       Yue and a friend had borrowed a neighbour’s boat and rowed to the market.

       “I have boat-handling experience because I used to fish back in Vietnam,” said Yue, who is Vietnamese.

       They tried to get the strays onto the boat but the animals were quite difficult to capture, she said.

       She said she would continue feeding the animals this way as “animals, like humans, are lives that matter”.

       Yue’s good deed is among the countless inspiring stories that have emerged in the aftermath of the floods.

       Rubber tapper Chu Yee Hong, 62, who lives near the area, was spotted helping his friend move his belongings out of his flooded house.

       “I live near the area and I am here to help my friend move some of his belongings to his sister’s house.

       “This area get flooded regularly. The residents have to face floods almost every year,” he said.

       His friend Pee Tiak Foow, 58, said that he moved into his sister’s house with his wife and parents on Sunday as floodwater rose to above the waist.

       “I was worried about my elderly parents. They are in their 90s. Luckily, we left the house before the situation got worse.

       “I believe the losses I have suffered in this flood is in the thousands,” he said.

       As for retiree Sanam Sadin, 67, she said she was taken aback by the magnitude of the flood that hit her house near Kampung Tandong here despite being used to facing such situations.

       “We are used to having floodwater enter our house, especially at the end or beginning of the year. It is an annual affair for us.

       “However, the floodwater would normally be below the knee level. Most years, it would only reach the compound of our house.

       “This year, it went all the way up until the chest level and it happened very quickly. I did not have much time to pack my belongings,” she said.

       She has been seeking refuge at the Kampung Tandong temporary flood relief centre with her children, son-in-law and grandchildren.