More seek shelter from floods

RANTAU PANJANG, Malaysia - The number of flood victims in the state continued to climb yesterday, reaching 2,145 evacuees compared with 1,629 the previous day.

A state National Security Council operations centre spokesman said the evacuees from 877 families were being sheltered at 11 relief centres.

The centres included halls at SK Bakong, SK Sri Kiambang, SK Tok Deh, SK Rantau Panjang 2, SK Kedai Tanjong and SK Gelang Mas.

The spokesman said most of the water levels at rivers in the state had gone down.

"Only Sungai Golok in Rantau Panjang is still above the danger level while the rest are below their warning marks."

He said the water level of Sungai Golok was 10 metres as at 5pm yesterday, a metre above the danger mark.

Most residents living along Sungai Golok said they would not clean their properties at the moment.

"It is better for us to wait until the monsoon season ends as there may be another round of flooding," said housewife Ramlah Ismail, 45.

The mother-of-four from Kampung Rantau Panjang Baru said she and her family had just returned to their home after floods in the village receded on Monday.

Idris Yahya, 38, who lives 150 metres from Sungai Golok, had told his family to be prepared to move again.

"We returned to our house early today (yesterday) but we may move back to the relief centre as the flood situation has yet to return to normal. Therefore, it will be a waste of time for us to clean our home now."

In Kuala Lipis, although the floods had subsided, nine evacuees remained at the Kampung Beralas multipurpose hall as their homes were badly affected by floodwaters.

A state police flood operations centre spokesman said the victims from two families planned to clean their houses before moving back in.

He said Taman Negara in Jerantut was now accessible to all vehicles as the inundated stretch of road was opened on Monday.