Flood: Number of evacuees in Sabah, S'wak continues to rise

As of 8am today, the flood situation in Sarawak continues to worsen, with an increasing number of victims being housed at temporary evacuation centres (PPS), while there are slightly more evacuees in Sabah.

In Sarawak, the number of evacuees rose to 12,486 from 3,648 families across 62 PPS, compared to 11,234 people from 3,187 families last night.

According to reports from the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee Secretariat, Bintulu remains the worst-affected district, recording the highest number of evacuees at 5,885 people from 1,649 families, followed by Serian with 2,307 evacuees (709 families) and Samarahan 2,005 evacuees (670 families).

A significant number of victims were also reported in Sibu, with 1,163 evacuees from 293 families, while Miri recorded 650 evacuees (172 families), Kuching had 475 evacuees (153 families), and Mukah reported a single evacuee.

In Sabah, the number of flood victims has slightly increased to 5,216 people from 1,820 families, compared to 5,195 people from 1,797 families last night.

The Sabah State Disaster Management Committee Secretariat reported that 33 PPS remain operational across nine districts.

Kota Marudu continues to record the highest number of evacuees, with 2,944 people from 1,095 families, followed by Pitas with 806 evacuees (298 families), Lahad Datu 514 evacuees (136 families), Telupid 288 evacuees (75 families), Paitan 238 evacuees (85 families), and Kota Belud 207 evacuees (67 families).

Other affected districts include Beaufort with 108 evacuees (31 families), Beluran 57 evacuees (20 families), and Tongod 54 evacuees (13 families).

The committee reported that evacuation trends in Pitas show an increase, while other districts remain unchanged.

Kota Marudu District Disaster Management Committee chairperson Meirin Sugara, who is also the Kota Marudu district officer, said the situation in the district is expected to fully recover due to favourable weather conditions today.

As such, she said residents would be allowed to return home in stages, and the Disaster Operations Commander has been instructed to coordinate personnel, assets, and logistics at PPS to facilitate the safe return of flood victims to their homes.

Sarawak gets additional RM10m relief

In a related matter, Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Openg announced an additional allocation of RM10 million for the State Disaster Management Committee to aid in the ongoing flood relief efforts in the state.

With this allocation, he said the committee would be able to distribute aid to all areas affected by the floods.

“There is already an allocation for them but I’m adding another RM10 million so that they can assist all affected areas,” he told reporters yesterday after visiting the Malaysian Red Crescent temporary relief centre, which accommodated residents of Kampung Lereng Bukit who were displaced by a landslide three days ago.

He stressed that the flood in Sarawak is not due to drainage issues but rather the impact of climate change.

“The floods that have affected almost all areas in Sarawak are caused by an extraordinary amount of rainfall over the past few days, followed by continuous rain, which then coincided with the high tide phenomenon,” he said.

Various banks, including Maybank, Public Bank Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd and OCBC Bank (M) Bhd, have come forward to assist their loan and financing customers who are affected by the floods in Sabah and Sarawak.

- Bernama

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