Floods: Number of evacuees drops in three states, rises in Terengganu

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of flood evacuees dropped in Pahang, Selangor and Kelantan, rose in Terengganu and remained unchanged in Negri Sembilan on Friday (Dec 31) evening.

In Terengganu, the number of evacuees rose to 433 from 123 families compared to 390 from 115 families at noon.

Kemaman became the second district to be hit by floods after Dungun with the opening of a relief centre at Surau Kampung Ban Ho, making the number of relief centres in the state three in all.

The State Disaster Management Committee Secretariat in a statement said 43 people from eight families are being housed at the surau.

"The number of evacuees in the Dungun district remained unchanged. The Kampung Shukur multipurpose hall is accommodating 225 people from 60 families while the Kampung Pasir Raja hall 165 people from 55 families," according to the Secretariat.

According to the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID), the levels of Sungai Besut at Keruak Bridge, Besut and Sungai Dungun in Kuala Jengai, Dungun remained above the alert point.

Pahang saw a slight decrease in the number of evacuees on Friday evening, to 2,290 at 32 relief centres from 2,366 victims in the afternoon involving Pekan, Temerloh, Kuantan, Bentong and Maran districts.

The publicinfobanjir.water.gov.my portal reported that the levels of Sungai Kuantan in Pasir Kemudi (Kuantan), Chegar Perah Bridge (Lipis), Sungai Dong in Kampung Peruas (Raub) and Sungai Luit in Kampung Subuh (Maran) were above the alert point.

In Selangor, the Social Welfare Department's (JKM) Disaster Info reported that the number of flood evacuees continued to drop, with 97 people from 27 families were at two relief centres compared to 408 from 125 families at four centres in the afternoon.

The centres are Sekolah Rendah Agama Dusun Nanding (20 people) and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Abdul Jalil (77 people) in Hulu Langat.

In Kelantan 1,070 evacuees from 346 families are being housed at 16 relief centres in Kuala Krai, Jeli and Tanah Merah, down from 1,172 (367 families) at noon.

Only one major river was reported to be at the danger level, namely Sungai Kelantan in Kuala Krai with a reading of 25.32 metres.

In addition, the Public Works Department disaster management portal reported that Jalan Kuala Balah, Jeli connecting the district with Dabong was still closed to all vehicles.

Meanwhile, in Negri Sembilan, the number of evacuees remained unchanged at 29 from nine families at Kampung Puom hall relief centre. - Bernama