JOHOR BAHRU:Continuous heavy rain since last night caused several areas in this district and Kota Tinggi to be flooded again, people hardly had the time to recover from the floods that hit the state a week ago on Jan 2.<br /> <br /> A Bernama check in several areas here including Kampung Laut Batu 10 and Kampung Paya, which was badly hit by floods last week, found that all the villagers had moved from their homes either to relatives houses or to evacuation centres.<br /> <br /> Malik Yahya, a resident of Kampung Paya, Bukit Mutiara here, said he was still cleaning his house which had been inundated when the water started rising again this morning.<br /> <br /> "The water started rising from 9 am due to continuous heavy rain since last night. I immediately saved the important documents first," the father of three told Bernama when met in Kampung Paya, here today.<br /> <br /> Another resident who wanted to be known as Khadijah in her 30s said: "We were in the midst of cleaning and washing clothes after the flood, but suddenly it came back. It's sad but what can we do?"<br /> <br /> As of 4 pm, the number of flood victims in the state had increased to 1,251 people from 382 families compared to 479 people from 128 families recorded at 8 am today. The affected districts are Kota Tinggi, Johor Bahru, Mersing and Segamat.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile in Kota Tinggi, residents and traders in the city centre started packing and putting their valuables in safe places fearing a second wave of floods due to the continuous heavy rain since this morning.<br /> <br /> At Kota Tinggi Bridge, a Bernama check found that the river was flowing very fast and the water level was very high due to the heavy downpour, and firemen and personnel from other agencies were also seen patrolling around the bridge, housing estates and at nearby villages.<br /> <br /> A resident of Taman Kemang, Afizah Yunos, 50, said all the items that were still safe such as electrical appliances were placed back on the second floor of her house.<br /> <br /> "We can only pray that there will be no second wave of floods because the flood this time is unpredictable, the water rises too fast," said Afizah, who returned home three days after the flood last Saturday.<br /> <br /> Food stall operator Radin Haslinah Radin Othman, 53, who had just resumed business today after her stall was flooded last Saturday, said this time she had made initial preparations and would transfer raw materials and costly items if water starts entering the stall.<br /> <br /> "If it rains heavily and continues like this, I will take the goods from the shop back with me because before this I did not have time to save the goods, especially the newly purchased raw materials," she said.<br /> <br /> -- BERNAMA