Heavy rain for more than three hours caused the collapse of a stretch of Jalan Merakau in Ranau, about 100 km east of Kota Kinabalu last night.

The incident took place between 8pm and 11pm when a torrent of water from Mt Kinabalu washed away the stretch of road where a culvert was being installed, said Ranau district police chief DSP Abdul Rahman Kasim when contacted by Bernama .

He said the situation resulted in traffic congestion due the high number of road users returning to their villages for the school holiday and the Kaamatan Festival.

He said the congestion was expected to drag on until the completion of work to clean up and rebuild the road by the Public Works Department.

It is learnt that the traffic congestion had built up for almost 20km out of Ranau town.  

- Bernama