Over 14,000 flood evacuees in Kelantan, T’ganu sees improved situation

Bernama

Kelantan had 14,132 people from 5,046 families at evacuation centres as at 1pm today as the floods in the state continue to worsen.

The number of evacuees had risen from the 12,636 from 4,307 families as at 8am.

Kelantan Civil Defence Force director Zainuddin Hussin said the evacuees were being housed at 53 relief centres in seven districts.

The highest number of evacuees as at 1pm was in the district of Pasir Mas, at 10,483 from 3,924 families being housed at 37 relief centres, he said when contacted.

Tumpat was next with 2,196 people from 729 families, all of them staying at four relief centres, he added.

Zainuddin said 685 people (179 families) were at five relief centres in Kota Baru; 25 (nine) at a relief centre in Tanah Merah; 603 (172) at four relief centres in Pasir Puteh; 26 (five) at a relief centre in Machang and 114 (28) at a relief centre in Bachok.

He said the weather was fine but the number of evacuees continued to rise because water from the upper reaches of Sungai Golok were flowing downstream to Pasir Mas and Tumpat.

He also said that all the relief centres in Kuala Krai had closed as the situation there had returned to normal.

Meanwhile, the level of only Sungai Golok at Rantau Panjang was still above the danger point of nine metres at noon, according to the state government portal http://ebanjir.kelantan.gov.my. The level of the river there was 10.15 metres compared to 10.17 metres at 8am.

Sungai Kelantan at the Guillemard Bridge in Tanah Merah measured 14.09 metres compared to 14.38 metres in the morning. The danger level of the river there is 16 metres.

The levels of the other rivers have returned to normal.

Terengganu evacuees drop to 4,174

The situation in the flooded areas of Terengganu continues to improve, with the number of evacuees in the state dropping to 4,174 as at 1pm from 8,313 in the morning.

The evacuees, from 1,147 families, are housed at 63 relief centres in seven districts, down from 2,414 families at 117 centres in the morning.

The Social Welfare Department reported on its Infobanjir application that Hulu Terengganu, the worst-hit among the districts, had 970 evacuees (290 families) as at 1pm compared to 1,289 (437) in the morning.

Besut, which had recorded the highest number of evacuees so far, saw a drastic drop in the number of evacuees, to 804 (226) from 4,200 (1,197) in the morning.

Thirty-six relief centres in Besut have closed, leaving only 18 open.

Setiu had 661 evacuees (168 families) as at 1pm compared to 1,146 (327 families) and Kemaman 489 (131) compared to 566 (153).

Dungun registered a slight increase in the number of evacuees, to 935 from 925 in the morning; Kuala Terengganu, to 278 (71) compared to 148 (38) and Marang, to 42 (14) compared to 39 (13).

In Sabah, the number of evacuees in the northern Pitas district, about 180km from Kota Kinabalu, remained at 281 from 67 families, housed at three relief centres.

Sabah director of education Maimunah Suhaibul said 10 schools in Pitas were closed today after the floods struck yesterday.

The level of Sungai Kebatasan was at the danger point of 5.98 metres and that of Sungai Bengkoka at the alert level of 3.91 metres.

- Bernama