A Flood in the Triang Valley in December 1896

The following account of flooding in the Jelebu area of Negeri Sembilan appeared in the Negri Sembilan Government Gazette dated 26 Feb. 1897 (vol. II no. 6) on pp. 71–72.

No. 53.-FLOODS IN THE TRIANG VALLEY:

Collector and Magistrate’s Office,
Jelebu, 30th December, l896.

Sir,—I have the honour to comply with your instructions and send you some details of the effect of the floods in the lower reaches of the Triang Valley and the measures which it was possible to undertake for the relief of the people in those districts.

On 14^th December, a Malay constable, accompanied by one companion, a native of Jerang, reached Kuala Klawang and reported that the whole country was under water, which in the Police Station building had risen to a height of four feet.¹ As this house stands on a high site the story seemed almost incredible. These men related how people had fled lo the roofs of their houses and were suffering greatly through want of proper food. It is the custom of these villagers to procure padi from Bemban, a village upstream, and convert it into rice. It was now impossible for them to go to Bemban, and such padi as they had was wet.

These two messengers stated that they had volunteered to attempt to reach Kuala Klawang and ask for assistance, though since the whole of the path appeared to be under water then there seemed little chance of their meeting with success. Both of these men were expert swimmers and both have a reputation for unusual courage. They reported how they had spent the whole day reaching Pertang, that they sometimes swam for hours, resting on occasional hillocks or more often in the branches of trees. The Acting Financial Assistant, with commendable promptitude, immediately gave orders for rice to be bought and conveyed to Rawit, the place of embarcation on the river.

I returned home the next day from a short absence and arranged for boatmen and boats to be ready at Rawit and also heard the story of the men who had come from Jerang. This then seemed to me an exaggerated one.

As the path to Rawit was all under water there had been difficulty in getting the rice there and it was necessary to go myself with the coolies and see it divided up into bags and put into the boats.

The matter was one of some perplexity since, if the constable’s story was to be believed, it was hopeless to attempt to reach Jerang by the land route, and the river was so high that the chiefs and old men whom I consulted assured me that it was impossible for any boat to pass through the rapids in safety. These boats, as you are aware, are only small dug-outs capable of carrying a very limited quantity of stores. However, the two boatmen on whom I usually rely—men extremely expert in the navigation of the river—after I had left the matter for them to decide, volunteered to go. I was unwilling to take the responsibility of permitting them to start on such a dangerous journey as they knew it to be, but there was the alternative of neglecting the people at Jerang, who would not have sent messengers by land had they not been in some distress. There was also the village of Juntai, of which no news had yet reached us.

I was at Rawit when the two boats left, and gave these men careful instructions that they should keep together and run no risks that it was possible to avoid. I promised them that two more boats should leave to-morrow morning so that if their rice was upset or they [found] themselves in difficulty they would know that assistance would be forthcoming. The constable and his companion both went with the boats. I felt greatly the responsibility of despatching the boats and passed an anxious time till the following morning, when I again went to Rawit at daylight. The river had gone down a little but...