The death toll from floods rose to 17 as fresh heavy downpours forced hundreds to evacuate in the country's north and the eastern state of Sabah.

The latest victim was a elderly man in Kota Marudu town in northern Sabah, where intermittent rain fell over the weekend, said crisis and disaster management chief.

Che Moin Umar said conditions were expected to worsen in the coming days, with heavy rains forecast over the country's northern states.

"It will deteriorate ... I cannot say much whether it will be like Malacca and Johor," Che Moin told AFP , referring to two southern states worst hit by Malaysia's flood crisis so far.

"We are preparing for the worst-case scenario," he added.

The meteorological department today issued its highest "red stage" warning for heavy rains in Kelantan, Terengganu, Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, and Pahang until Wednesday.

Moderate rain will also continue in Sabah into the week, it said.

Che Moin said authorities had evacuated more than 150 people in Kelantan and Terengganu after rains on Saturday night sparked flooding.

Conditions ease in Johor

Some 200 people were also evacuated over the weekend from the town of Beaufort in Sabah, he said.

Conditions are easing in Johor, which has seen 15 of the 17 fatalities, although 16,455 people evacuated from the floods were still sheltering in relief centres on Sunday, said Bernama news agency.

The number of people sheltering in relief centres nationwide peaked at 90,000 in the last week of December.

Johor authorities said Sunday that it would cost some RM60 million to repair flood-damaged infrastructure such as bridges, Bernama reported, as Health Minister Chua Soi Lek warned of dengue outbreaks.

"There is a likelihood that we will see a sudden surge in the number of dengue cases in another two weeks if no effort is made to clean up the areas and rid them of stagnant water pools," Chua was quoted as saying from Johor.

Victims have blamed the flash floods, the worst in decades, on environmental degradation and poor development planning.