25,000 now evacuated as Malaysia braces for more floods

By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia has now evacuated over 25,000 people from their homes, with monsoon floods in two northeastern coastal states continuing to worsen.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in a statement Thursday that more civil defense officers and assets were being deployed to assist flood victims in Kelantan and Terengganu.

As of 1 p.m. (0500GMT) 14,132 people from 5,046 Kelantan families were being housed at evacuation centers, while Terengganu flood victims had risen to 11,000.

Kelantan Civil Defense Force Director Zainuddin Hussin said that while the weather remained unpredictable, the number of evacuees is expected to continue rising as water from the upper district of the state was now flowing downstream to several other new districts.

"In one of the districts, Kuala Krau, we have [howver] closed all relief centers as the situation has returned to normalcy," he told Anadolu Agency by phone.

A total of 111 schools in both states been ordered to remain closed until further notice, affecting some 32,000 students and nearly 3,500 teachers.

While many of the schools were flooded, some have been transformed into relief centers.

Monsoon flooding is no new phenomenon in Malaysia, as almost each year-end the east coast faces heavy rainfall, which results in flash flooding.

At the end of 2014, Malaysia witnessed its worst floods in 30 years, with over 250,000 people evacuated.