Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today initial estimates of damages from floods were at more than RM100 million.

The floods, the worst in decades, inundated thousands of homes and businesses mostly in Johor, where the number of evacuees peaked at 90,000 late last month.

Rains are now hitting the country's north and its eastern states on Borneo island, and Abdullah warned of flooding with forecasts of more rain, the Bernama news agency reported.

"We are worried about the impact of heavy and continuous rain as this can lead to rivers bursting their banks again and so on," he was quoted as saying.

The metereological department on Thursday warned of heavy rains in Sarawak and Sabah, which has seen hundreds evacuated this week, as well as fresh rains in Johor and Pahang.

The government has also estimated that floods in central and western states have cost farmers and livestock breeders an estimated RM36.36 million in losses, according to Bernama .

Seventeen people have been killed so far floods caused by unseasonally heavy rain which started in December.