Floods: 251 people relocated to temporary shelters in three Sabah districts

Rescue personnel relocating villagers hit by floods in the three districts.

KOTA KINABALU: A total of 251 people had to be evacuated to temporary disaster relief centres after continuous heavy rain triggered floods in three Sabah districts.

Authorities have so far opened seven flood shelters in the northern districts of Kudat and Pitas as well as the remote Paitan area in the northeastern Beluran district since Tuesday (Jan 24).

The respective district disaster control operations rooms were also activated at the same time.

A spokesman for the Civil Defence Force said the authorities began receiving distress calls from villagers asking help to relocate them to higher ground after water levels started to rise at 6pm at Kampung Sibaung in Pitas.

Other villagers subsequently made similar calls to the authorities after the floods worsened in their areas, he added.

To date, the spokesman said, 52 families, involving 251 people, have been moved to the seven shelters as of 11.30am on Wednesday (Jan 25).

Those displaced by the floods have been sent to the Kampung Kubambangan and Kampung Batangon Darat halls in Paitan; the Sinasak Batu village head’s residence, Kampung Subiang surau and Kampung Kusilad hall in Pitas; and the Matunggong and SK Sikuati halls in Kudat.

The authorities were still on standby to rescue as well as receive more affected residents at the shelters, with reports saying there could be more victims needing to be relocated in Paitan and Kudat.

The spokesman added that no casualties have been reported so far.

Meanwhile, seven more flood relief centres were opened in the northern rural Kota Marudu district.

The Civil Defence Force has, however, not updated the number of victims at these centres as yet.