Johor floods: More than 11,000 flood evacuees

Nelson Benjamin, The Star 11 Dec 07;

JOHOR BARU: The number of people fleeing the floods in Johor has reached 11,246.

According to figures from the state police flood operations room, there were 2,760 families housed in 68 flood relief centres state-wide at of 10am this morning.

Segamat is the worst hit district with 7,150 victims in 70 centres, followed by Johor Baru with 3,537 victims in nine centres and Kluang with 397 victims in four centres.

Mersing has 113 victims in one centre, followed by Batu Pahat with 23 victims in two centres, while Kota Tinggi and Muar each have 21 victims and 10 victims respectively in one centre.

The overnight downpour in most parts of the state also caused the closure of 11 roads, mainly in Segamat.

Thousands more flee rising floods in Malaysia
Straits Times 12 Dec 07;

KUALA LUMPUR - FLOODS in three Malaysian states have worsened, with the number of evacuees increasing in Johor, Pahang and Kelantan as of last evening.

The death toll from flooding rose to nine on Monday after a teen drowned in Kelantan as he was swimming in a canal, local papers reported.

More relief centres were opened up to deal with the increased number of evacuees as the Meteorology Department issued red alerts for more rain in parts of the three states.

The number of people fleeing the floods in Johor rose to 12,629 from 10,370 yesterday morning. A total of 78 relief centres have been opened up in Johor.

Segamat was the worst-hit district, with 8,381 victims in 57 centres. Seven main roads in Segamat were closed completely to traffic, while five more were open only to heavy vehicles.

In Pahang, three more districts were inundated, raising the number of flood victims to 4,725 yesterday evening from 1,367 the night before.

The number of flood victims in Kelantan rose to 1,312 yesterday evening from 1,222 in the morning due to heavy rain in Kuala Krai and Pasir Mas.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, BERNAMA

Malaysian flood death toll rises, thousands more evacuated
Channel NewsAsia 11 Dec 07;

KUALA LUMPUR - The death toll from widespread floods in Malaysia has risen to six and the number of people evacuated to relief centres increased sharply as heavy rains continued to fall, officials and reports said Tuesday.

A 15-year-old boy is thought to have drowned after he went swimming in a canal in north eastern Kelantan state, the official Bernama news agency reported.

Bernama on Sunday had reported five dead and three missing in the floods, which have hit three states in the peninsula.

More than 15,000 people in total are now housed in relief centres, compared with about 10,800 on Monday, Bernama said Tuesday.

As well as Kelantan, the floods have also hit southern Johor state and Pahang state in the east.

The meteorological department warned that the torrential downpours will continue until the end of the week as the flood alert for Johor and Pahang remained at the highest level of red after it was raised the previous day.

"During the monsoon season, it's normal to have heavy rains. It will remain the same until the end of the week," deputy science minister Kong Cho Ha told AFP.

A year ago, floods in Johor left more than 110,000 people displaced in a disaster that caused at least 1.5 billion ringgit (452.8 million dollars) in damages. -AFP/vm

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