Malaysia: Flood situation continues to worsen in badly-hit Kelantan and Terengganu

The Star 25 Dec 14;

KUALA LUMPUR: The situation in most flood-hit states continues to worsen with the authorities warning of continuing heavy rain in the badly-hit states of Kelantan and Terengganu.

The number of evacuees increased to more than 65,000 yesterday with over 26,000 in Kelantan and over 22,000 in Terengganu.

Kelantan is now only accessible via the Kuala Terengganu-Kota Baru trunk road and by air.

The other route to Kelantan through the East West Highway was closed to all traffic after part of the highway at the 65th kilometre near Puncak Titiwangsa collapsed.

The Gua Musang-Kuala Krai road has been closed to all traffic while the route from Padang Besar through Haadyai was also impassable due to the floods.

In Terengganu, the number of evacuees doubled to over 22,000 people in just 24 hours.

Emergency rations: Seberang Takir state constituency volunteers preparing to distribute food supplies to flood victims in Taman Permint Jaya, Kuala Terengganu.
Emergency rations: Seberang Takir state constituency volunteers preparing to distribute food supplies to flood victims in Taman Permint Jaya, Kuala Terengganu.
The worst-hit districts are Kemaman followed by Dungun, Kuala Terengganu, Hulu Terengganu, Besut and Marang.

The situation in Pahang is also getting worse with more than 13,000 people evacuated.

A spokesman at the Flood Operations Room of the Pahang police contingent said the worst-hit areas are Kuantan, Maran, Jerantut, Lipis and Pekan.

In Perak, Hulu Perak and Kuala Kangsar have also been hit by the flood with over 1,000 people evacuated as of yesterday.

In Sabah, the situation improved slightly with most of the evacuees allowed to return home yesterday morning.

In Perlis, there was not much change in the flood situation and 175 people were still seeking shelter at evacuation centres.

The Johor National Security Council has advised people to be prepared for the possibility of floods striking the state between Dec 28 and 30.

Johor National Security Council principal assistant secretary Azura Muhammed Kifli said the floods could occur due to the incessant heavy rain brought on by the North-East Monsoon.

In a related development, the National Security Council secretary Datuk Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab has warned people against spreading false rumours regarding the flood situation.

He said a state of emergency could only be declared by the Prime Minister and the announcement would be made through official channels.
“Declaring an emergency is a very serious matter and surely any announcement about it would not be made through Facebook or WhatsApp messages,” he said when commenting on rumours circulated through social media that an emergency was declared in Kelantan yesterday.

He said the authorities would go after those responsible for starting the rumours once the flood in the east coast had abated.

“We won’t let them off the hook,” he said.

Kelantan police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mazlan Lazim said people must stop spreading false information on the flood situation.

East West highway remains closed after cave-in
HARIZ MOHD New Straits Times 24 Dec 14;

GERIK: The East West Highway is still close to traffic after a section of the highway caved in following a landslide last night.

It was reported that a lorry fell at the section that caved in at Km63 near the Titiwangsa stop.

A spokesman said they are monitoring the situation closely to ensure no one is affected by the incident.

“We have handed the matter over to police for the next course of action," he said.

On the lorry which fell, the spokesman said the driver managed to jump out of his vehicle in the nick of time.

TNB suspends operations of 1,600 sub-stations in Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang
The Star 25 Dec 14;

KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has suspended the operations of 1,606 sub-stations throughout Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu in view of the severe floods in the state.

Its Kelantan general manager, Md Yuslan Md Yusof, said that up to 6pm today, the operations of 232 sub-stations in Gua Musang, 215 in Kuala Krai, 24 in Tanah Merah, 19 in Jeli, 12 in Machang, five in Tumpat and three in Kota Baru had been suspended.

TNB senior general manager (Corporate and Communications) Datuk Mohd Aminuddin Mohd Amin said the move was to avoid short-circuit which can affect 70,284 consumers.

Kelantan has the most number of consumers affected with (42,688) when the operations of 1,150 sub-stations are suspended in Kuala Krai, Gua Musang, Jeli, Machang, Tanah Merah, Kota Baru and Tumpat.

"In Terengganu, the operations of 138 sub-stations were suspended in Kemaman, Bandar Al-Muktafi Billah Shah and Dungun, involving 8,105 consumers while in Pahang, 5,878 consumers will be affected as 18 sub-stations are suspended," he said in a statement, Thursday.

He said TNB would continue to monitor the situation.

The floods in Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang continued to worsen. - Bernama

Floods: 12 rivers exceed danger level in East Coast
ZAFIRA ANWAR New Straits Times 25 Dec 14;

KUALA LUMPUR: The downpour in the East Coast has caused 12 rivers in Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan to exceed the danger level.

As at 6 pm today, the National Security Council on their portal said the water levels in Pahang were increasing in Sungai Jelai in Jeram Bungor district to 65.98 metres, almost 4 metres above the danger level of 62 metres. Meanwhile, the Sungai Pahang water level in Sungai Yap district had gone up to 59.34 metres, 7 metres above the danger level of 52 metres.

Sungai Pahang in Kampong Chenor is at 24.33 metres (danger level 23 metres), Sungai Pahang in Lubuk Paku is at 19.79 metres (danger level 19 metres) and Sungai Kuantan near Kuantan Bypass rose almost 3 metres to 6.27 metres (danger level 3.50 metres).

In Kelantan, the water level in rivers exceeded the danger level with Sungai Kelantan near Kusial rising 6.61 metres above the danger level of 16 metres and Sungai Kelantan in Kuala Krai rose 9.11 metres to 34.11 metres from the danger level of 25 metres.

Sungai Galas in Dabong had gone up to 46.39 metres (danger level 38 metres), Sungai Kelantan near Air Mulih rose to 12.07 metres (danger level 10.65 metres), Sungai Golok in Rantau Panjang rose to 10.43 metres (danger level 9 metres) and Sungai Kelantan near the Customs Jetty went up to 6.86 metres (danger level 5 metres).

Meanwhile in Terengganu, water level in Sungai Dungun near Jambatan Jerangau is at 14.24 metres, almost 2 metres above the danger level of 12.50 metres.