Marina was one of the residents of Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam, that Muhd Saiful Izhar and three of his friends helped, although they were also trapped in the severe floods that hit over the weekend.

Recounting his experience, Saiful, who rents a two-storey terrace house in the area, said they were not willing to see their neighbours go hungry during the floods.

He said he and his friends, who are production operators at a factory, waded through the floodwaters and carried their cooking utensils, such as stoves and gas canisters, upstairs.

“We then swam to our neighbours’ kitchens and took whatever food items in the fridge that were floating, like instant noodles, vegetables and chicken, to cook for them.

“We pitied them, as they are elderly people,” he told Bernama today.

Saiful said they cooked the food on the roof of the car porch at their rented house and swam to neighbours’ houses to distribute the food by placing it on air mattresses.

“Some of us swam, others climbed to the roof to distribute the food,” he said while cleaning up his house compound.

The group also rescued an elderly man from drowning when the senior citizen was trying to save his wife.

“The uncle was using his furniture to keep himself afloat, while his wife was holding on to a barrel. We swam and pulled the two of them to the police control post.

“I am a kampung boy and I’ve been swimming in rivers since I was small and my house was often flooded.

“Thank God we were able to help.

“I told my neighbours that there was no need to thank us.

“I am just relieved they are safe,” he said, breaking into a smile when recalling that rescue boats only arrived on Tuesday, the fourth night of the disaster to render help.

On the food that Saiful and his friends provided, 41-year-old Marina said: “We are very grateful as we were all very hungry at the time. We could not swim to go out and look for food.”