The number of flood victims in Terengganu rose to 1,479 people from 372 families as of 8am today, compared to 1,148 (293 families) at 8pm last night.

According to the InfoBanjir portal, the highest number of flood victims was recorded in Kuala Nerus, with 824 people from 188 families who are at four relief centres, compared to 478 victims (104 families) last night.

Most of the victims were placed at SK Kompleks Gong Badak (659), followed by SK Tok Jiring (81), SK Bukit Gasing (59) and SK Bukit Nenas (25).

Malaysian Civil Defence Force Terengganu director Che Adam A Rahman said that the sharp rise in the number of victims in Kuala Nerus was due to the high tide phenomenon, where water could not flow back to the sea fast enough, causing many housing areas to be flooded.

"However, the situation is expected to improve throughout the day,” he said.

The number of victims in Marang (497 from 142 families) and Dungun (45 from 11 families) remained unchanged, while Kuala Terengganu saw a slight increase to 81 victims from 24 families compared to 65 from 20 families last night.

- Bernama