KOTA KINABALU: Two rivers in the flood-prone Beaufort district in south-western Sabah will be deepened to stop the problem of floods, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said the Cabinet had agreed that the Federal and Sabah governments would cooperate on flood mitigation works on the Padas and Membakut rivers.

The two rivers are prone to overflowing during the monsoon season, which forces residents to evacuate their homes, sometimes up to four times per year.

“We are certainly working to deepen and widen the rivers. This has to be checked by the Drainage and Irrigation Department.

“We need to know how to prevent the extent of damage caused by floods,” he said after visiting flood victims in Membakut, a sub-district of Beaufort.

About 3,000 residents fled to evacuation centres on Tuesday night when 12 villages were flooded.

Muhyiddin also said a multi-purpose hall, which is capable of housing 2,000 people, would be set up for flood victims there.

“The Beaufort district office has identified a plot of land for this purpose,” he said in response to requests by the district office for a bigger hall.

Muhyiddin, who was accompanied by Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, also met flood victims at the evacuation centres of SRK St Patrick and Membakut community hall.

Abdul Malik Ahmad, 43, from Kampung Gambilan in Menumbok, said his village had never flooded before.

“When the local authorities asked us to leave, I took my wife and my two young children to the evacuation centre. But many others did not move out and were trapped.

“I returned to clean up my house after the floods receded. But my wife needs to stay here to care for my two infants for the time being,” he added.

At least 500 villagers in Kampung Gambilan and Kampung Senoko were trapped by floods since late Wednesday.

Some of them were forced to climb to the roof until they were rescued the next day.

At the height of the floods, more than 4,000 people were evacuated in Beaufort and Membakut but many have started to return home to clean up as floods receded on Friday.

Other districts affected by floods were Sipitang, Bongawan, Penampang and the interior Tenom districts.-thestar