DUNGUN: With the water level in her house compound already up to waist high, Azizah Bakar had no choice but to evacuate to higher ground with her five children, who are all Person with Disabilities (PwD), and 23 pet cats.
Two of the children, Mohd Zulkifli Kamaludin, 39, and Hazura, 36, cannot walk and had to be carried by members of the Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) from the house to the rescue truck.
Her three other children – Hatikah (34), Mohd Shahrul (29) and Mohd Azeem Asyraf (26) – are deaf.
“They can walk and manage themselves and help me to manage the older siblings,” said Azizah, 69.
However, Azizah refused to be evacuated to the flood relief centre at the Kampung Serdang Mosque. Instead, she requested to be sent to her daughter’s house for the convenience of her PwD children.
“My PwD children will be more comfortable at their sister’s place, especially to go to the toilet,” she told Bernama, adding that the daughter, Nurul Huda, 48, who is her third child, lives about 50 metres away from the centre.
Azizah has another son, Mohd Fairus, 42, who is also deaf, and he opted to stay back with his father, Kamaludin Embong, 69, to look after the house.
She said she has 12 children, six of whom are deaf, while Zulkifli and Hazura became paralysed when they were in their 20s.
“I don’t know why my six children became deaf, but I accepted it as fated by Allah and I believe there is a blessing to it.
“I am happy now. They are now adults and are able to take care of themselves,” she said.
On the cats, she said, they are Hatikah’s pets. The girl is her eighth child.
“She has placed the cats in cages to make sure we also bring along her pets when we evacuate,” said Azizah, who described the floods this year as worse than last year.
“During the floods last year, the water in my house compound was only up to knee-high and this time around, the water also rose very fast,” she added.