975 flood evacuees in Sarawak as of noon

More people were evacuated in flood-hit Sarawak, raising the number of evacuees to 975 as of noon from 523 in the morning.

Sarawak Department of Civil Defence public relations officer Siti Huzaimah Ibrahim said the evacuees were being housed at two relief centres in the Kuching Division and five centres in the Samarahan Division.

"In the Kuching Division, 60 people were at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Tabuan Jaya and 245 at the Stapok community hall," she told Bernama.

Siti Huzaimah said the relief centre at SMK Bako, which housed 78 evacuees in the morning, was closed at noon after the occupants left for their homes.

In Samarahan, 130 people were being accommodated at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Tambirat, 62 at the Kampung Jaie community hall, 75 at the Samarahan community hall, eight at SK Hj Bujang Rangawan Putit and 395 at SK Bradek.

Samarahan Department of Civil Defence officer Ahmad Shah Fikri Darus said although the number of evacuees in Samarahan had gone up, the floodwaters in the division were receding as rain had stopped.