A resident, Nur Azizan Morshidi, 35, said the villagers collected RM500 to rent an excavator to carry out the work last month.

She said the initiative worked as floodwaters did not enter their homes this time when it rained heavily. Previously, when it rained, the water level would rise up to their calves.

“The eight of us decided to pool our money to build the drain to prevent our homes from being flooded.

“Before this, because of the floods, a lot of our possessions were damaged, including cupboards and mattresses.

“We could not salvage anything and that is the reason why we hired professionals to dig the drain,” she said when met at the SK Mawai flood relief centre here today.

A mother of one, Nur Azizan had been staying in the area for the past five years.

She and her husband, Baki Anak Tawan, 55, and eight other families can heave a sigh of relief now that their effort was successful.

Despite the drain, they still had to be evacuated to the flood relief centre because floods had cut off the main road to their village.

Nur Azizan said she and her family members were evacuated at 3pm yesterday with the help of civil defence force personnel following heavy rain since 5am.

Meanwhile, the Sultan of Johor, accompanied by his three sons, visited the 117 flood victims at the centre at 12.15pm today.

They spent about 20 minutes talking to the flood victims.