BATU KAWAN, Feb 17 — Several houses and fishing boats in Pulau Aman, Teluk Kumbar and Balik Pulau were badly damaged when heavy rains and strong winds hit Penang early today.
Pulau Aman Village Community Management Council (MPKK) chairman Saibi Abd Majid, said the high tide phenomenon had brought frequent heavy rains but early this morning at about 1am, the villagers were awoken when their houses were shaken by stormy winds.
“Several houses were destroyed and the incident had caused 12 fishing boats to capsize and sink. Fortunately, no one was injured,” he said when met in Pulau Aman, here today.
The 116.5-hectare island which can be reached by taking a 10-minute boat ride from the Batu Musang Jetty in Batu Kawan and is home to about 50 families, is the only traditional Malay fishing village that still retains its originality and charm.
Meanwhile, Teluk Kumbar Fishermen’s Unit chief, Roslizan Ramli said the 1.30am incident was like a small tsunami adding that six fiber boats which were at the jetty were badly damaged by the huge waves causing the boat owners losses of between RM10,000 and RM15,000.
“During the two-hour storm, we could not do anything but watch the boats being hit by the tidal waves. The big waves had reached the street near the rows of shops,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Pondok Upeh, Balik Pulau near here, seven families had a narrow escape when an uprooted sentul fruit tree crashed onto their ancestral home during the storm this morning.
M Guneswary, 58, said she was about to go to bed at the top floor of the two-storey family home when she heard a loud thud before a pillar collapsed onto her husband, M Veeramoney, 60.
“The other family members including my mother-in-law, S Suppamah, 74, a three-month-old grand niece were on the ground floor. All the items on the top floor were damaged while my husband, mother-in-law and I suffered minor injuries and were treated at Balik Pulau Hospital,,” she said when met at her home.
Pulau Betong assemblyman Mohd Tuah Ismail when contacted said he would see that the families involved get immediate assistance. — Bernama