KUALA KRAI, Malaysia—The Gurdwara Sahib in the small Malaysian town of Kuala Krai was submerged in a flash flood yesterday that has hit a number of states in Malaysia.
The 80-year old Gurdwara, serving two Sikh families and more than a dozen foreign workers from Punjab, was under 50-feet of water as of today.
The Malaysian Gurdwaras Council (MGC) have pledged an immediate RM3,000 in emergency relief funding for the Gurdwara.
Gurmukh Singh, president of Kuala Krai Gurdwara Sahib management committee, said this was the worst flooding to hit the town in more than a decade.
“The water levels rose very fast. We moved everything we could to the top floor, but water kept on rising. By night time, in the pitch of darkness, there was little we could do. We only managed to get a boat late that night to get the few of us still stranded at the Gurdwara to safe grounds,” said Gurmukh Singh. The Gurdwara is now under some 50ft water, he added.
Kuala Krai is about 70km from Kota Bharu, Kelantan, and 380km from Kuala Lumpur.
Gurmukh Singh, a retired police sub-inspector who had served more than three decades in Kelantan, is also the president of the Gurdwara Sahib Kota Bharu management committee. He lives in the Kuala Krai gurdwara.
Aside from Kuala Krai, the two others Gurdwaras in Kelantan are in Kota Bharu and Tumpat. At the moment, both Gurdwaras have been spared from flooding, he said.
Meanwhile, MGC president Jagir Singh said the council has approved RM3,000 in emergency funding for the flood-hit Gurdwara and will mobilise restoration efforts once the flood subsides, including coordinating fund raising.
We are in touch with Gurmukh Singh. We will asses the damage once the water recedes, said Jagir Singh.
