KOTA KINABALU: When rescuers arrived to take Suzielianna Jonie and her family out of their flood-filled home in Kampung Sabuk, she was determined that her “fur babies” must come along.

The 43-year-old mother-of-one refused to budge unless her two cats, Nakel and Mogway, were carried to safety as well.

“I told them straight, if my cats cannot come with me, then I am staying behind. They are part of our family. If I left them, they would have drowned,” she said, recalling how floodwaters surged into their rented home, rising to chest level.

Seeing her resolve, the rescue team agreed.

Suzielianna, her husband Suhaimi Mohd Salleh, 45, their 11-year-old son Ruzaimi, and the cats were moved to safety.

At the Lok Kawi Heights temporary evacuation centre in Kinarut, Suzielianna explained how she placed the cats in two separate boxes because “Nakel loves his space and would not share it with Mogway”.

The couple, who have rented the same house for seven years, paying RM550 a month, said floods have become almost routine since they moved in 2018.

But this time the water came faster and higher.

“We lost nearly everything. All our things were soaked and covered in mud,” said Suhaimi, a lorry driver.

He said when they first moved there, they were unaware that it was a flood-prone area.

“My wife was making karipap when she noticed a lot of cars driving out of the housing complex. We were puzzled. If not for the neighbours who came knocking, we would not have known there was flooding,” said Suhaimi, recalling their first experience seven years ago.

He said the cats’ survival has always mirrored the family’s own.

Nakel was born during a previous flood after his mother, Kiko, was also rescued.

“It feels like these cats were meant to survive with us,” Suzielianna said with a faint smile.

Elsewhere in Papar, another family faced a different struggle as they rushed to protect their son with Down syndrome when floodwaters rose.

Finsol Tuol, 49, and his wife, Noemi Ongguk, 54, were asleep in their Kampung Langkuas home when water began seeping in at around 5am.

Within hours, it was waist-high.

“The hardest part was getting Noel into a life jacket because he didn’t want to wear it, and we had to calm him down while the water kept rising,” Finsol said of their 10-year-old son.

While the family of three decided to stay at the Lok Kawi Heights temporary evacuation centre, Noemi’s two younger sisters and their elderly mother, all of whom stayed with her, had decided to go to a nearby relative’s house.

Their belongings, however, were destroyed.

“We had experienced floods before, so as a routine, when water starts rushing in, we would place our things on higher shelves. But this time the water rose above it all, and everything ended up floating,” said Noemi.

She said that while the flood was severe, it was not as devastating as the one they endured four years ago.

“I can still remember how it was in 2021. Cleaning up after was terrible. The mud was an inch thick. My father was already unwell then, but after the flood, surrounded by all that mud and debris, his condition worsened and he passed away shortly after,” she said quietly.

Apart from the five victims’ families, 72 displaced residents from 22 families are also taking temporary shelter at the centre.