KOTA BARU: The state capital and Pasir Mas district in Kelantan were hit by floods after Sungai Kelantan overflowed its banks, forcing more than 500 people to evacuate and causing a two-year-old toddler to be drowned here yesterday.
The river burst its banks yesterday after three days of rain, flooding the town, which had not seen a major flood in the last three years, raising the water level to a metre high in some areas.
In Terengganu, the situation improved in most areas except in Dungun where several roads were not passable to traffic.
In Pahang, the situation also improved allowing some two-thirds of the evacuees to return home but Sungai Lembing town remained cut off.
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SUBMERGED: A man walking away from his sinking car, where only the roof of the car is visible, at Rantau Panjang in Kelantan Thursday. |
The army's air wing unit carried out two mercy flights from the town on Wednesday ferrying a pregnant orang asli woman and a diabetic patient, who ran out of medicine, to the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital in Kuantan.
A Kelantan flood operations centre spokesman said there were 475 evacuees in Kota Baru and 58 in Pasir Mas.
He said those in Tanah Merah, Jeli and Kuala Krai were still unable to return home since Tuesday as waters had not receded.
He said two-year-old Mohamad Faiz Faizuddin Mohamed Nor became the second casualty when he was swept away by the swift currents after falling into a monsoon drain in Wakaf Mek Zainab in Kota Baru.
He said Faizuddin’s body was found at 2.30am yesterday not far from his home after his family realised that he was missing.
The spokesman said the main roads from Kuala Lumpur to here were still passable but the alternative road from Rantau Panjang to Jeli through Lalang Pepuyu remained submerged and closed.
The East Coast Meteorological Services Department warned that the situation may get worse and more rain was expected.
Sungai Golok overflowed and flooded two popular duty-free areas in Rantau Panjang and Pangkalan Kubor and the roads were not passable as waters rose to one metre.
In Seremban, TNB Distribution Sdn Bhd senior general manager (operations) M. Mithiran said 22 sub-stations in Kelantan were switched off since Wednesday due to rising waters, cutting supply to 2,000 residents in Tanah Merah and Kuala Krai.
He said that in Sungai Lembing, 10 sub-stations were switched off temporarily and 987 residents had to be evacuated by the authorities.
“In Terengganu, none of our customers are affected as the floodwaters are still below the dangerous level,” he told reporters.
A spokesman for the Terengganu Flood Operations Room told Bernama that the number of evacuees in Dungun increased to 706 yesterday.
He said the worst-hit area was Pasir Raja in Hulu Dungun.
In Besut, 110 evacuees have returned home, leaving only eight at a relief centre while in the Kemaman district, 56 evacuees have returned home but 175 remained at the relief centres.
OCPD Asst Comm Khalid Abu Bakar said the Kuantan-Sungai Lembing road was still closed to traffic as there several parts of the road were still under water.
“To date, we have closed three relief centres while 11 centres around Kuantan with some 1,000 evacuees are still open,” he said.
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