KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has recorded an increasing number of evacuees as king tides and flooding hit four districts.
As of 8am on Monday (Dec 26), 1,626 people from 366 families are currently at temporary relief shelters in Sandakan, Pitas, Kota Belud and Kota Kinabalu.
The state Disaster Relief Management secretariat said in a statement that those victims in Pitas, Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu were coastal villagers affected by the king tides phenomenon experienced since last Thursday (Dec 22).
In a statement, the secretariat said that Sabah's northern Pitas district had the highest number with 745 evacuees, followed by Sandakan with 684 people and Kota Kinabalu with 54 people.
All the evacuees affected by the king tide phenomenon have been placed at eight temporary relief centres.
Some 143 victims in Kota Belud district were evacuated after their villages flooded due to heavy and continuous rains over the last three to four days.
The king tide phenomenon destroyed or damaged a dozen houses at Tanjung Aru Baru in Kota Kinabalu on Dec 22 and on Christmas Eve nearly a hundred wooden stilt houses in Sandakan's Kg Forest area were destroyed by the tides and strong waves.
The phenomena continued on Sunday (Dec 25) night with more of their residents leaving their homes as a precaution.
Other than property damage, there were no reports of any casualties from the various king tide incidents.
