More people evacuated Tuesday as East Coast floods worsen

The second waves of floods in the east coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang has continued to worsen, forcing more people out of flooded homes overnight.

In KELANTAN, the number of evacuees in the affected eight of the 10 districts rose to 20,468 this morning, up from 16,081 last night, according to the state government flood portal. They are being housed at 70 relief centres, 10 more than last night's.

The rise in the number of evacuees followed incessant heavy rain yesterday in the Gua Musang district that raised the levels of rivers and caused floods in low-lying areas.

The floods in the state also forced the closure of 15 stretches of road, eight of them closed to all traffic and seven closed to heavy vehicles.

The stretches closed to all vehicles are at Km37 Jalan Gua Musang-Jelawang-Dabong in Gua Musang, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra and Jalan Jirat in Kuala Krai town.

In Gua Musang, the number of evacuees rose to 3,692 this morning, a big jump from the 179 last night. The evacuees are being housed at 10 relief centres.

In Pasir Mas, the number of evacuees dropped by 10, from 10,575 to 10,565. They are being housed at 31 relief centres. In Tumpat, seven relief centres continue to accommodate 3,956 evacuees.

The number of evacuees in Kuala Krai has risen to 1,328 from 495. They are staying at 14 relief centres. Pasir Puteh has 556 evacuees at four centres; Tanah Merah, 141 at two centres; Machang, 19 at one centre and Jeli, 211 at one centre as well.

The level of Sungai Golok at Rantau Panjang was still above the danger point this morning.

The levels of three other major rivers were above the danger point at four places. The level of Sungai Galas in Dabong, Gua Musang, was 41.59 metres (danger point 38 metres); Sungai Lebir in Tualang, Kuala Krai, 39.83 metres (35 metres); Sungai Kelantan at Tangga Krai, Kuala Krai, 28.83 metres (25 metres) and at Guillemard Bridge, Tanah Merah, 17.71 metres (16 metres).

The level of Sungai Golok at Rantau Panjang was 10.35 metres, above the danger point of nine metres.

The floods in Kelantan have claimed four lives so far since Dec 16.

Meanwhile, Kelantan Fire and Rescue Department director Azmi Osman advised people living in the coastal areas to be on the alert for huge waves as forecast by reports.

"They must be prepared to evacuate at short notice," he said.

In TERENGGANU, the number of evacuees rose to 6,003 this morning, up from 5,981 last night, after several low-lying areas were flooded due to high tide and rivers bursting their banks, according to the Terengganu National Security Council.

Two stretches of road remain closed in Tumpat district, at Km8 Jalan Cabang 4 Kampung Jambu-Meranti and Km2 Jalan Keselamatan (Kesban) Pengkalan Kubor-Kampung Jambu.

In Pasir Mas, two stretches of road are closed, at Km12 Jalan Rantau Panjang-Panglima Bayu and Km11 Jalan Pohon Tanjung-Rantau Panjang (old road) Kampung Siram. One stretch of road in Machang is closed, at Km8 Jalan Machang-Pangkal Meleret-Wakaf Bata.

Three stretches of road in Pasir Mas are closed to light vehicles, at Km3 Jalan Pengkalan Rakit, Km23 Jalan Banggol Kulim Lokasi 2 and Km24 to Km26 Jalan Lebuhraya Pasir Mas-Rantau Panjang.

In Tanah Merah, one stretch of road is closed to light vehicles, at Km1.5 Jalan Tanah Merah-Kusial-Kampung Ipoh while in Machang, the stretch of road at KM6 Jalan Kubor China-Temangan is also closed to light vehicles.

The stretch of road at Km37 Jalan Jeli-Dabong in Jeli and that at Km10 Jalan Kota Baharu-Pantai Cahaya Bulan are also closed to light vehicles.

Dungun has the most number of evacuees at 2,174, followed by Kemaman (1,877); Kuala Terengganu (1,081); Hulu Terengganu (585); Besut (186); Marang (102) and Setiu (22).

As of 9am, 63 relief centres had been opened, four of them in Besut; 17 in Dungun; 10 in Hulu Terengganu; 22 in Kemaman; six in Kuala Terengganu and two each in Marang and Setiu.

In PAHANG, the situation in the five flood-hit districts worsened, with the number of evacuees rising to 2,386.

A spokesman of the Pahang Police flood operations room said the affected districts were Kuantan, Pekan, Maran, Jerantut and Lipis.

"Kuantan has the highest number of evacuees, at 1,421, at 19 relief centres. Marang has 594 evacuees at six centres; Lipis, 325 at three centres; Pekan, 25 at two centres and Jerantut, 21 at one centre," he told Bernama.

Stretches of six major roads in three districts have been closed to all vehicles, namely Jalan Kuantan-Sungai Lembing (near the Sungai Riau Bridge) and Jalan Kuantan - Sungai Lembing (Simpang Tiga Panching) in the Kuantan district; Jalan Lipis - Gua Musang and Jalan Lipis - Merapoh in the Lipis district and Jalan Benta-Jerantut and Maran main road in the Maran district.