Waist-deep: Terengganu Fire and Rescue Department director Hassan ‘As’ari Omar (second from right) and crew wading through floodwaters at Kampung Bukit Tok Bat in Kuala Berang, Terengganu. — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR: Three helicopters are at the ready to assist in evacuating flood victims in the east coast, according to the Fire and Rescue Department.
Its director-general Datuk Seri Abdul Wahab Mat Yasin said that one helicopter had arrived in Bachok, Kelantan, at noon yesterday while the other two were being prepared to be mobilised in Terengganu if the situation called for it.
The assets will be used in evacuation efforts, including ferrying patients in need of treatment to hospitals, or delivering food supplies.
The department, said Abdul Wahab, was focusing on the east coast (Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang) as there were ongoing evacuation efforts.
Personnel would not be increased but additional assets, such as boats, had been sent there, he added.
“We also advise local communities to evacuate immediately and the majority has done so voluntarily, so the number of trapped victims is lower.
“But with the rising water levels, for instance in Pasir Mas (Kelantan), there are victims who are being evacuated from the higher level of their homes,” he said after attending a department event here yesterday, Bernama reported.
Abdul Wahab said evacuee response to the floods this time was better compared with previous years as they had chosen to evacuate earlier, adding that the department had mobilised 10 lorries to Kelantan and Terengganu from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor for the purpose.
He advised people to evacuate to relief centres as electricity supply had been cut off in several areas.
