PASIR MAS: For some evacuees here, having to leave their homes for flood relief centres is an annual affair.

       “For the past 20 years, I have been facing floods and each time it hits I am ready to be evacuated to a relief centre in this district,” said Mek Yam Hamad, 80, an evacuee at SK Tok Deh relief centre in Rantau Panjang here.

       The octogenarian from Kampung Bendang Perol said the relief centres have been like a second home for her and six family members as their house is in a low-lying area.

       “This year alone, my six children, 20 grandchildren and I, have been evacuated to a relief centre three times as we live in a flood-prone area,” she told Bernama when met at SK Tok Deh relief centre on Saturday.

       The single mother elaborated that since last Friday, the water around her house rose to between 0.8m and 1.5m, forcing them to evacuate at around midnight in a boat which the village head had given them 10 years ago, as they would need it in case of floods.

       “My 17-year-old grandson, Muhammad Shahmi, helped navigate the boat through the flood waters to reach the relief centre which is 800m away and he had to make six trips to get all of us here,” she said.

       Mek Yam added that floods would take some time to recede.

       “It can be very tiring and the longest time we have to put up at a relief centre was two weeks,” she said.

       However, Mek Yam added that she has learned to accept the suffering as part of her life.