Severe floods in the northern states have forced thousands more people to flee their homes but the situation is improving in some areas as the monsoon rains ease, officials said today.

The floods, described as the worst in 30 years in the worst-affected regions, have hit five states - Perlis and Kedah in the north, Kelantan and Terengganu in the northeast and north-central Perak.

At least three people have been killed in the raging floodwaters, including a 22-year-old woman and two young children. Another 40-year-old man in Kelantan remains missing, feared dead.

Rescue workers in Terengganu have found the body of a 36-year-old fisherman reported missing on Tuesday, but police said he was not a flood victim and that his death was classified as an accident.

Water levels swollen by the unusually heavy monsoon rains have receded in many parts, but in northern Kedah state, water was continuing to rise and "no improvement was seen yet," police said.

Thousands of residents of the north have been forced to evacuate their homes, particularly in Kedah where the number of people shifted to relief centres has risen to 17,805, with 9,361 in Perlis and 694 in Kelantan.

Sun is out in Perlis

But in Kelantan and Perlis, police said the situation was improving and water levels were falling. In Terengganu, a district police official said the situation there was "clear" and all evacuated residents had returned home.

"The rain has stopped today, the sun began to shine," said a police official at the flood operations room in Perlis.

In Kedah, the flood waters did not prevent a determined bridegroom from marrying the girl of his dreams.

Resourceful Hasrul Afandy Abdul Hamid, 26, called the district flood operations room which obligingly sent a boat to ferry him to the local mosque for the marriage to take place on Tuesday.

"I planned the wedding six months ago and never expected it would be held under these extreme conditions," he told the Bernama news agency.