50,000 Malaysians displaced in second wave of flooding
Pastor Dale Morgan
50,000 Malaysians displaced in second wave of flooding*
AYER HITAM, Malaysia, Jan 13 (AFP) Jan 13, 2007
Severe flooding in Malaysia's south has forced more than 50,000 people
to flee their homes, officials said Saturday.
"Our latest figure shows that 50,172 people have been evacuated so far,"
said Che Moin Umar, chief of the Crisis and Disaster Management Directorate.
The new figures are more than double the 20,051 evacuees reported late
Friday, as a second wave of flooding struck the region.
"It is a lot more today because the rain has not stopped and the volume
is also quite high," Che Moin told AFP.
"According to weather reports we expect more rain and more evacuations
to take place over the next two days, until Monday."
Hundreds of people were already sheltering in flood evacuation centres
in Johor after the first round of flooding had hit late last month,
forcing 90,000 to evacuate their homes at the peak of the crisis.
Since then, rains have hit the country's north and its eastern states on
Borneo island.
Che Moin said there were no fatalities in the second flooding and the
worst hit areas were in Johor state.
The state opened 208 flood relief centers on high ground to provide
shelter to residents from 11,557 families evacuated from their homes, he
said.
On the outskirts of Ayer Hitam in Johor, water levels had inundated
large stretches of roads, cutting off smaller villages from towns.
"Many people here had only just returned from the last round of floods
and now they have to pack up and leave again," said Muhamad Rubae, a
local resident.
"Some of them have not even returned since December," Muhamad told AFP.
"I just went back for four days and now I have to return here. How are
we to cope with this," said one middle-aged woman who was at a relief
centre.
The meteorology department said heavy rains would continue in Johor and
three other states in the southwest until Monday. Heavy rain is also
expected over the weekend in Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo.
The floods -- the worst in decades -- have claimed eighteen lives so
far, with the latest casualty a young boy who drowned in Sabah last
weekend.