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KUALA LUMPUR – Heavy rains continued to hit parts of Malaysia on Sunday (January 3), prompting thousands of people to be evacuated in the southern state of Johor and parts of the East Coast Highway in Pahang temporarily closed to the traffic.
Johor State Health and Environment Committee Chairman R. Vidyananthan said there was one death from the floods. He added that 56 temporary aid centers have been set up in the affected districts, such as Johor Baru, Kota Tinggi, Kluang, Mersing, Pontian, Kulai and Batu Pahat, to provide shelter for flood victims.
As of midday Sunday, a total of 6,248 flood victims from 1,628 families in seven Johor districts had been rescued and evacuated to safety.
The state capital, Johor Baru, claimed the most casualties, with more than 2,400 displaced people, followed by Kluang with more than 1,800, Vidyananthan said, according to The Star Online.
The Malaysian Meteorological Department issued a bad weather warning, predicting continued rain in Segamat, Batu Pahat, Kluang, Mersing, Pontian, Kulai, Kota Tinggi and Johor Baru.
Johor’s rivers also grew, with three river monitoring stations registering dangerous water levels, while six more registered alert levels.
Meanwhile, in the eastern state of Pahang, a total of 65 people from two districts have been evacuated to relief centers following floods caused by continuous heavy rains since Saturday.
Residents of the state capital, Kuantan, plunged into waist-deep waters to salvage their belongings and helped to save stranded cars.
Three rivers in the state, Sungai Lepar, Sungai Lipis and Sungai Lembing, had exceeded their danger levels on Sunday.
A section of the East Coast Expressway (ECE), which connects Kuantan with the capital Kuala Lumpur, was temporarily closed to vehicles due to flooding flooding the expressway lanes.
Norol Azali Sulaiman, chairman of the state committee for basic services, public delivery system and innovations, said that the section between Gambang and Sri Jaya was completely impassable for eastbound and westbound traffic.
“The water along the shoulder of the highway has spilled onto the highway,” the New Straits Times quoted him as saying.
The eastbound lanes and the Kuala Lumpur-bound express lane were later reopened to traffic after floodwaters receded.
The meteorological department warned that the annual monsoon season, which generally lasts from November to March, is expected to bring more rainfall to the east coast states of Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan.
He said that states on the west coast of the peninsula, as well as the states of Sabah and Sarawak, in eastern Malaysia, are also expected to experience thunderstorms, heavy rain and strong winds in the afternoon and into the early evening during the monsoon.
These can cause flash flooding, especially in low-lying areas, the department said.
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