At least ten people have been killed by floods in Malaysia and several others are still missing, officials said today, as the government insisted it had issued adequate flood warnings.

Authorities recovered the body of a three-year-old girl and her mother in the worst-hit southern state of Johor, part of a family whose car was swept away by floods.

"The car stalled in the water and they tried to get out, and at the same moment, the water came running in and they were swept together with the car," a Johor state official told AFP .

The father is in hospital, while rescuers are searching for another young daughter as well as two other teenagers in Johor, he said.

As relief operations continued, the government deflected criticism from victims they had no advance flood warnings.

"The system was effective, but the increase in the water level was quite extraordinary, beyond anybody's expectation, so that was something totally unexpected," the official Bernama news agency quoted deputy premier Najib Abdul Razak.

Najib also called on government agencies to brace themselves for a second wave of floods as the meteorology department forecast more rain in coming days.

"If it doesn't occur, then thank god, but if it does, we must be in a state of readiness so that the necessary operations can be carried out efficiently," he said.

Crop damages

Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said officials would start gathering data on crop damages on Johor, which he said had suffered significant losses after floods affected agricultural areas.

"The ministry will channel aid in the form of fertilizers, seedlings, and animal stocks as usual to those who were affected by the flood," he said.

Some 57,419 flood victims were Thursday camped out in relief centres around Johor, while another 2,188 evacuees are in relief centres in the western tourist state of Malacca and an additional 825 in central Pahang state, Bernama said.

The meteorological department today said heavy rain would continue in Johor as well as other affected states of central Pahang, and northeastern Kelantan and Terengganu until Sunday.

Authorities in the eastern Sarawak were meanwhile preparing for heavy rains from Friday until Monday, with leave cancelled for police and fire fighters.