The Star 30 Dec 11;
JOHOR BARU: The flood situation in both Johor and Sabah has improved with many of the evacuees allowed to return home.
In Johor, there were only 241 evacuees remaining at the relief centres yesterday, down from the 1,200 people taking shelter when the flood was at its worst on Monday.
The National Security Council's portal reported Segamat as the only district with six centres still open.
State police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said no break-ins had been reported during the floods, which affected several districts for more than a week.
All police personnel, he added, were also instructed to check on the homes affected by floods.
On a report that several men from Kampung Tanjung Endau in Mersing were staying back to guard their homes from being broken into, he reminded the public not to take their safety for granted.
“Floodwaters are unpredictable and it is dangerous for anyone to guard their belongings when their homes are hit by floods,” he said.
In KOTA KINABALU, 18 families in Kampung Gum-Gum in Sandakan were allowed to return home after being evacuated on Christmas eve while another 287 residents continued to remain in relief centres.
However, police personnel are on standby as the state braces itself for another round of bad weather.
Federal Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Salleh Mat Rasid said police all over the country would monitor flood-prone areas and coastal settlements with king tides expected in Samarahan, Sarawak, and Likas Bay here yesterday.
Malaysia: Situation improves in flood-hit states
Punitha Kumar and Lavanya Lingan New Straits Times 30 Dec 11;
Worst-hit Sarawak sees highest reduction in number of evacuees
THE flood situation in the country took a turn for the better yesterday, with many evacuees returning home.
The number of evacuees in worst-hit Sarawak, which stood at 2,657 on Wednesday, dropped to 562 yesterday.
Sarawak Drainage and Irrigation Department director Wong Siu Hieng said floodwaters were expected to fully subside by tomorrow.
"The condition in Kuching is back to normal, only the coastal areas are still affected.
"It will take a couple of days for the coastal area to clear, provided there are no more downpours."
Wong said Sarawak saw the highest recorded rainfall at 610mm in 24 hours on Christmas day which was the cause of the flood.
According to the National Security Council's website, the relief centre in Samarahan had 451 victims, a huge drop from 1,407 yesterday.
This was followed by Sri Aman (102) and Sarikei with nine evacuees.
In Johor, the numbers dropped to 251 victims from 715 yesterday, all of whom were housed in six relief centres in Segamat.
Mersing and Batu Pahat had closed down their evacuation centres as the situation improved with all evacuees returning home.
The situation in Pahang remained the same as the number of victims still stood at 15, all in |Kampung Gadak.
In Sabah, there were no flood evacuees as all 101 families had returned home.
The evacuation centre at Sandakan was closed at 11am yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Meteorological Department has forecast intermittent rain, occasionally moderate, occurring over states of Johor (Kota Tinggi and Mersing districts), Pahang (Rompin, Pekan and Kuantan districts) and Terengganu (Hulu Terengganu, Marang, Dungun and Kemaman districts) to continue till today (Friday).
The department added that the rainfall may cause floods over low-lying areas.
Strong Northeasterly winds over 60 kmph with waves more than 5.5 metres were expected to occur and continue till next Thursday, over the waters of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, East Johor, Samui, Tioman, Bunguran, Condore, Reef North and Layang-Layang.
The third category warning meant it was dangerous for all coastal and shipping activities, including workers on oil platforms.
In addition, the coastal areas of East Coast of the Peninsular are vulnerable to sea level rise.
This condition is expected to continue until Monday.
Places such as Sarawak, Labuan and Sabah (West Coast, Interior and Kudat) were expecting winds between 50 and 60kmph with waves up to 4.5 metres till next Thursday.
Flood Situation In Affected States Under Control
Bernama 29 Dec 11;
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 (Bernama) -- The flood situation in the affected states were under control in the evening Thursday, with most of the evacuees having returned to their homes.
In SARAWAK, the flood situation was improving and up to 6pm today, only 687 evacuees from 222 families were still housed at the relief centres.
According to a statement from the state operations room, still at the relief centres in Samarahan were 451 flood victims from 163 families, Sri Aman (102 from 33 families), Sibu (125 from 25 families) and Sarikei (nine from one family).
Incessant rain over the past four days in Sarawak has not only caused flooding in low-lying areas but also landslides, includng at KM77 and KM78 Jalan Serian-Sri Aman at 8.45pm yesterday, causing the Trans Borneo road to be cut off still.
Meanwhile, the National Security Council portal reported that in JOHOR, only Segamat district was still affected by floods, with 241 evacuees housed at six relief centres.
The relief centres are in Kampung Spangloi, Kampung Batu Badak, Kampung Sanglang, Kampung Pogoh, Kampung Tandong and Kampung Kuala Paya.
The Drainage and Irrigation Department portal reported that the water levels in three rivers were still above the dangerous level; Sungai Muar at Buloh Kasap, Segamat (at 9.40 metres), Sungai Muar at Bukit Kepong, Muar (3.23 metres) and Sungai Simpang Kiri at Sri Medan, Batu Pahat (2.31 metres).
IN PAHANG, 15 flood evacuees are still at the relief centre in Rompin.
A spokesman for the state police contingent headquarters' operations room said that as at 5pm today, flood victims housed at the Kampung Gadak community hall were still waiting for the situation to return to normal after the area had been hit by the high-tide phenomenon.
"Only Kampung Gadak is still inundated while the situation has returned to normal in other areas," he said when contacted.
Pahang Meteorological Department director, Azemi Daud said the high-tide phenomenon would disappear by the year-end.
"Huge waves that have hit the East Coast states in the peninsula have been caused by the strong northeasterly winds and this is expected to continue today.
"The high-tide and huge waves phenomenon can hamper rain water flowing out to sea, causing the floods to subside slowly," he explained.
He advised the people to reduce activities at the beaches and sea due to the prevailing phenomenon, to take safety precautionary measures if involved in such activities and to follow safety instructions given by the relevant authorities.
In SABAH, the flood situation in Sandakan has improved, with all the flood evacuees at the relief centres allowed to return home this morning.
A spokesman for the Sandakan Municipal Council's flood operations room said the remaining 64 evacuees from 18 families from Kampung Gum-Gum were allowed to return home after the river water level in the village dropped to the alert level.
He said Dewan Sri Gum-Gum ceased to be a flood relief centre this morning but the flood operations centre was still open to monitor the flood situation in the district.
In Beluran, its assistant district officer, Roger Appolonius has advised residents in three areas in the district, namely Sugut, Paitan and Tangkarason to be alert and to evacuate if the water level of the river in their area rose suddenly.
--BERNAMA
