Floods send more people to relief centres in Sabah

The floods in Sabah forced the evacuation of more people this morning while the number of evacuees in Sarawak dropped and that in Kelantan and Perak remained unchanged.

Up to 976 people were moved to relief centres in Sabah as of this morning, up from 731 yesterday.

The number of evacuees dropped to 8,198 in Sarawak compared to 10,512, yesterday.

In Kelantan and Perak, the number of evacuees remained unchanged, at 255 and 78, respectively.

In SABAH, Beaufort district officer Shahid Othman said 414 people from 146 families had been evacuated in the district. Three hundred people from 99 families were moved out of their homes in Membakut and 262 people from 75 families were evacuated in Tenom.

In SARAWAK, a spokesman of the Sarawak National Security Council said the number of evacuees in Limbang rose to 1,224 this morning from 1,018 yesterday.

He said the Kuching division recorded 4,817 evacuees this morning, down from 7,337 last night, while the number of evacuees in the Samarahan and Mukah divisions remained unchanged, at 2,079 and 78, respectively.

All the evacuees in the state are being housed at 45 relief centres, down from 54 yesterday. Nine relief centres in Kuching were closed, bringing down to 26 the number still open.

Reports indicate that several places upstream in Ulu Baram and Ulu Limbang were experiencing intermittent heavy rain.

In PERAK, the number of evacuees remained unchanged at 78 from 19 families, with 44 of them in the Perak Tengah district and 34 in Hulu Perak, according to a spokesman of the Perak NSC.

In KELANTAN, the 255 evacuees from 62 families are being housed at eight relief centres in the Kuala Krai district.

A spokesman of the Kelantan NSC said the houses of these evacuees had suffered severe damage or had been washed away by the floodwaters.