The Malaysian Insight

ON Pulau Stelu, 30km from Gua Musang, Kelantan, the kampung appears gloomy and it drizzles all day. The villagers are prepared to face any possibility from the bad weather.

Four years ago, the strong current flowing down from Titiwangsa mountain ranges pushed along logs. The villagers say the logs floated along the river and piled at the bridge connecting both sides of Pulau Stelu.

As more logs and muddy water flowed down to the village, the bridge turned into a dam as the logs clogged at the bridge. Later, water started to overflow from Sg Nenggiri, submerging Pulau Stelu. Around 200 families took shelter at the village mosque, the highest point in the area.

It was around 10am on December 23, 2014, from the vantage point of the mosque that the kampung folk realised that the bridge used daily to get to their rubber holdings, orchards and school had cracked. At 2.30pm, the bridge built in the mid-1980s collapsed. – November 21, 2018.