Look out for unseen dangers brought by floods

At the time of writing, the floods are worsening with more than 120,000 people affected across the country. The monsoon has been unkind this year as we have already stated elsewhere.

Shelters and social media are being flooded with images of houses, roads and even entire towns submerged under muddy waters where main rivers and tributaries have overflowed. This has led to people’s concern on the social media as to when the situation will clear up.

It is not business as usual. In his remarks, the Deputy Prime Minister of the country, Dato Sri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has stated that the floods that are occurring in Kelantan and Terengganu particularly is expected to be more severe as compared to the floods in 2014.

At yesterday, the Meteorological Department has downgraded the danger alert level of continuous torrential rain in some parts of the east coast but the severe continuous rain advisory is still valid in some districts of Kelantan and Terengganu. Therefore, it can be stated that the safety of the evacuees, or those who are living near low lying areas in view of the possibility of flood waters overflowing from elevated areas, should be of utmost importance.

Nevertheless, in the minds of some, the risks associated with floods are only a matter of life and death, or being swept away by powerful undercurrents, which is quite logical.

However there is another type of danger which is often forgotten by the people affected by floods as they try to navigate through the submerged houses - electric shock.

On Nov 27, a 35-year-old mechanic was electrocuted to death in the wee hours after trying to unplug his washing machine from a power point in his flooded home in Pasir Puteh.

It is possible Tuan Mohd Zakaria Tuan Ismail, 35, who died on the spot, might not know that the electricity was still on when the incident happened.

His body was washed away into a river.

While terrible and regrettable the event ought to act as a lesson to all the need to be cautious especially when dealing with electrical appliances in the flood situation.

The Energy Commission has continued to issue warnings that the floods also carry other risks such as electrocution.

Besides avoiding touching electrical appliances that are wet, we should also look for exposed electric wires and sub stations, as well as underground power cables which may lead to accidental touch due to the fact that one cannot see clearly.

The same can be said when it comes to ensuring that we do not touch electric apparatus that has been submerged whether at home or otherwise because the surrounding may have been electrified by a naked conductors.

We have to be conscious of such eventualities.

For added protection, always make sure that the main power switch at home and all the electrical equipment are disconnected from the source of power before flooding comes. It could prevent deaths.