Johor floods: Waters recede but Johor stays on alert

New Straits Times 6 Feb 11;

JOHOR BARU: Fewer evacuees in Johor returned home yesterday compared with previous days as the authorities remained wary of the floods taking a turn for the worse.

As of 5pm, there were still 28,099 people at 105 relief centres as compared with 28,970 on Saturday.

State flood operations room spokesman said relief centres still open were in Ledang (19), Segamat (18), Muar (28) and Batu Pahat (38).


The other 230 relief centres in Kluang, here, Kota Tinggi, Pontian and Kulaijaya had been closed as those districts have almost totally recovered from the floods.

"The number of evacuees who returned home since Saturday is just about 800 because we are still on high alert in some areas," the spokesman said.

As of 4pm yesterday, Sungai Muar at Buloh Kasap was still at 9.83m, which was higher than its danger level of 9.14m.


The Bekok dam at Sungai Batu Pahat was also still above its danger mark of 17.5m at 18.73m.

The situation in Pahang had returned to normal, with the remaining 12 flood victims at a relief centre in Rompin allowed to return home yesterday morning.

A spokesman from the Pahang police operations room said the victims, who were at the relief centre at SK Aur Ibam, began returning to their village at Kampung Aur at 9am.


In Malacca, the number of flood victims at two relief centres in Jasin dropped to 330 people yesterday from 407 people the day before.

A spokesman from the state flood operations room said the victims, from 74 families, were from the Sungai Rambai state constituency.

He expected the situation to improve further as the water level at Sungai Kesang was receding.

Meanwhile, Puteri Umno said it intends to play its role to step up a cleanliness programme, particularly in flood-stricken states.

Its head, Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin, said the programme, in collaboration with the district health office, would increase awareness among flood victims and prevent them from being inflicted with diseases.

The deputy health minister said assistance given to flood victims normally focused on efforts to send them to evacuation centres, as well as other forms of aid.

However, she noted that cleanliness was not given priority.

More flood evacuees expected to go home
The Star 7 Feb 11;

JOHOR BARU: Although it has been a week since major floods hit the state, a total of 28,177 evacuees still remain at 107 relief centres.

A spokesman from the state flood operations room, however, said the number was slowly going down.

“Our relief centres in six districts (Johor Baru, Kluang, Pontian, Kota Tinggi, Mersing and Kulaijaya) have already ended operations and we expect more centres to shut down soon,” he said.

The spokesman added that it was likely that the number of evacuees would drop steadily as the Meteo­rological Department had reported that the weather should improve in the coming week.

“The weather has been good these past few days but we are still receiving flood evacuees, especially in Batu Pahat and Ledang.

“Hopefully by the end of the week, the waters will recede completely and residents can all return home,” he said.

As of 3pm, online records from the operations room showed that there are about 6,808 families still in relief centres.

These families are mainly from Muar with 2,621 families, Batu Pahat (1,973), Ledang (1,801) and Segamat (413).

Number Of Flood Victims In Johor And Melaka Drops
Bernama 7 Feb 11;

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- The number of flood victims staying at relief centres in Johor and Melaka is declining as the flood situation in the affected areas has improved.

A total of 27,737 victims from 6,680 families were still taking shelter at relief centres in four districts in Johor as of this morning.

As at 8am, all victims in the districts of Muar, Batu Pahat, Segamat and Ledang were staying at 100 relief centres, according to the official portal of the Johor state government, www.johordt.gov.my.

The Muar district recorded the higher number with 10,574 victims from 2,633 families, followed by Batu Pahat (8,775 victims, 1,944 families), Ledang (6,750 victims, 1,698 families) and Segamat (1,638 victims, 405 families).

Out of the 100 relief centres that were set up, 28 were in Muar, 37 in Batu Pahat, 16 in Segamat and 19 in Ledang.

To date, five people were reported to have drowned due to the flood in Johor.

In MELAKA, the number of flood victims seeking shelter at two relief centres in the district of Jasin was reported to have dropped to 227 compared with 254 yesterday afternoon.

A spokesman of the state flood operations room said 197 victims from 41 families were being accommodated at the relief centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan Parit Penghulu while 30 victims from nine families were staying at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Mendapat.

All the victims were residing in the Sungai Rambai state constituency, the spokesman said when contacted here.

Clear weather was reported in the whole state, added the spokesman.

-- BERNAMA