Floods cut off 2 villages
Meera Vijayan, The Star 10 Dec 07;
JOHOR BARU: Heavy downpour has worsened the flood situation in Segamat, with at least two villages -- Kampung Jawa and Taman Segar -- cut off from the rest of the district.
The number of people evacuated from Segamat rose to 2,806 in 28 evacuation centres, up from 1,836 people within six hours.
The water in Sungai Segamat rose to the danger level by 2pm Monday, from the normal 8.1m to 11m.
Water levels continued to rise in areas like Simpang Loi, Kampung Tunku Tiga and Kampung Lenga.
However, despite intermittent rains, the flood situation seemed to be improving in other districts in Johor, with Mersing recording 39 evacuees and Batu Pahat reporting six respectively.
The total number of evacuees in Johor stands at 2,851 people in 30 evacuation centres statewide.
Over 4,000 in flood relief centres
The Star 10 Dec 07;
KUALA LUMPUR: Floods in three states have sent more than 4,000 people to relief centres, as forecasters warned of more monsoon rains across the country.
Swollen rivers claimed victims in Pahang and Johor, raising the death toll from the floods to seven after five drowning cases were reported in Kelantan.
There are now 4,046 flood victims in relief centres in the three states.
Some 1,400 of them from 261 families are in 16 relief centres in Pahang; 1,367 from 264 families in 20 centres in Kelantan and 1,280 from 308 families in 20 centres in Johor.
The meteorological department warned that moderate rainfall in central Kelantan and southern Pahang is expected to continue until tomorrow morning while moderate rainfall is expected to continue today in Terengganu. The department said moderate to heavy rainfall was expected in Sandakan, Kudat, and the west coast and interior of Sabah until Wednesday.
The five drowning cases reported in Kelantan so far were two in Pasir Puteh and one each in Kota Baru, Tumpat and Gua Musang.
Three popular trunk roads remained closed. They are Kota Baru-Pantai Cahaya Bulan road; Jalan Rantau Panjang-Jeli road and Jalan Meranti-Pasir Mas road.
Kelantan drainage and irrigation department director Lim Chow Hock said all streams in Kelantan, particularly the arteries of Sungai Kelantan and Sungai Golok remained at dangerous levels.
In Rompin, 15-year-old student Mohd Salleh Mohd Nor of SM Perantau Damai was found floating in Sungai Kampung Inoi at 10.45am yesterday, some 10m from a spot he was last seen fishing.
The Sungai Lembing-Kuantan road and the 71st kilometre of the Kuantan-Muadzam Shah road have been closed to traffic.
In Segamat, the body of Mohd Irwan Mohd Nazam, 13, was found at 7.40am about 100m from the place he went missing in Sungai Chodan in Kampung Paya Pulai.
Irwan was swept away while bathing with three friends yesterday afternoon.
Johor has issued evacuation alerts to villagers living along Sungai Muar, and between Bukit Kepong and Panchor after water levels rose above the danger mark yesterday.
In Terengganu, several main rivers including Sungai Setiu, Sungai Dungun and Sungai Kemaman have risen above their alert levels.
