TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA — Literally well-prepared for a rainy day, a senior citizen in Terengganu came up with the creative idea of converting his house into a floating wooden platform during the annual monsoon this year to protect his property from being submerged under floodwater.
A Bakar Che Ahmad, a 67-year-old Malay, decided to make some changes to his property after being fed up with the annual flood that hit his village in Kampung Tebak, Air Putih.
An estimated cost of RM47,000 was spent by Bakar Che Ahmad to build his floating house by installing 69 plastic barrels underneath his existing house as buoys.
Interviewed by Utusan Malaysia two months ago, Mr Bakar told the media that he got his idea from a floating chicken coop he designed back in 2018, which saved his poultry from drowning every time floods hit.
He shared that during flood season, he and his wife used to stay on the upper floor of their old house, as his wife is not comfortable staying at the evacuation centre due to health issues.
“However, our wooden house became debilitated over time. Since our floating chicken coop worked, we came up with the idea of building the whole floating house, my children also agreed and financed the project.”
Seven months to build the project
Father of seven sons, the retired lorry driver designed his project in February this year and took his family seven months to complete the floating house.
He shared that he initially only installed 30 plastic barrels but later added another 39 to ensure that these buoys were able to lift the weight of the whole structure.
Mr Bakar also built two pillars on both sides of the house to ensure that the house does not drift away by flood water.
From the latest Tik Tok video shared by his son, Mr Bakar’s effort was proven to pay off as the floating house did function well during the flood. Mr Bakar can be seen in the video relaxing on the porch while the surrounding area submerged under flood water:
@jimat_fishing2 Membalas kepada @jimat_fishing2 rumah kelong berjaya terapung.. semoga menjadi inspirasi pada org ramai…😊.. #rumahkelong #rumahterapung #berjaya #jimatfishing #zaliefishing #fyp #fypシ #fypシ゚viral #allahyangpunya
The east coast of Peninsula Malaysia is well-known as a flood-prone area during the yearly Northeast Monsoon season.
Intense rainfall and strong winds could potentially cause catastrophic loss of life and physical destruction.
