JOHOR BARU: Flood victims are urged to evacuate from their homes immediately when asked to do so by the authorities, says Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat.
The Johor police chief said that there would be enough personnel to monitor the homes left behind in the event of an evacuation.
"All police districts have been notified to be on alert for any incident besides offering help to the flood victims.
"As of 4pm, the ongoing heavy rain has caused flooding in four districts, namely Mersing, Kluang, Kota Tinggi, and Segamat," he said in a statement here on Sunday (Jan 7).
Comm Kamarul Zaman added that nine road closures were reported in Mersing, Kluang, Seri Alam, and Kulai.
"These roads are closed to light vehicles, and we have also received a report of a landslide in Puteri Wangsa, Johor Baru," he added.
Meanwhile, Kota Tinggi OCPD Supt Hussin Zamora said that two women, aged 37 and 43, managed to escape death after their vehicle was swept away by the strong flood currents into a trench.
"The incident occurred at KM42.5 Jalan Johor Baru-Mersing.
"The driver had tried to wade through the inundated road but was swept into the trench at the right side of the road heading towards Kota Tinggi," he said.
Both victims were rescued by other members of the public and only suffered minor injuries and had been treated at the Kota Tinggi Hospital.
The case was being investigated under Rule 10 of the Road Traffic Rules 1959 (LN 166/59) to identify the cause of the incident.
Earlier, a 15-second video was uploaded to the Orang Kota Tinggi Facebook page showing a car being swept away by floodwaters.
A woman could also be seen swimming with a man jumping to the rescue.
At the time of writing, the video has gained more than 200,000 views.
