Floods: Death toll at four - The floods in five states have claimed a fourth victim - on Tuesday evening, a man's body was found in a drain in...

Floods: Death toll at four

KUALA LUMPUR: The floods in five states have claimed a fourth victim - on Tuesday evening, a man's body was found in a drain in Gemas Baru, Johor.

Gemas Fire and Rescue Department officer Jaafar Yusof said the body was found by passers-by at 5.30pm.

He said based on the details on an identification card found in the man's wallet, the victim was identified as Pareynthan Monivasagam, of Kampung Kasipillai, Kuala Lumpur.

Three deaths were reported previously, two in Johor and one in Malacca.

Meanwhile, at 6pm, the number of evacuees in all districts in Johor had slightly increased to 42,111 people, compared with 41,883 at 4pm, at 238 flood relief centres.

According to the state government's official portal at www.johordt.gov.my, there was an increase in the number of evacuees in Segamat, at 20,025 people from 4,855 families.

Other evacuees were in Kluang (6,840), Johor Baru (29), Muar (3,706), Batu Pahat (3,268), Pontian (690), Kota Tinggi (1,797), Mersing (99) and Ledang (5,613).

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who visited the flooded areas, said based on the briefing given on the latest flood situation, the worst was now over in Johor.

He reminded the people to remain on the alert.

Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar also visited the victims in several relief centres.

The state is the worst hit in the current wave of floods.

In Negri Sembilan, a total of 1,549 flood victims were still in 16 evacuation centres at 6pm, compared to 2,259 this morning.

Spokesmen of the flood operations rooms in the affected districts said the floods in the state had begun to subside, with two more evacuation centres closed Tuesday.

Most of the flood evacuees were in Tampin (1,141) and Jempol (377).

Only Jalan Bahau-Rompin was still closed due to road cave in.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan called on the flood victims, either at flood relief centres or those who remained in their house, to register with their local community leaders for the purpose of assistance.

"I don't want any problem in channelling the assistance because previously, only those in relief centres took the initiatives to register," he said.

In Pahang, the floods subsided further with all the evacuees in Raub, one of the three affected districts, allowed to return home this evening.

A Pahang police spokesman said there were still 1,777 evacuees in relief centres, 1,687 of them in Rompin and the rest in Temerloh.

In Malacca, the number of flood victims rose to 4,101 people, compared with 3,396 at noon, mostly in Melaka Tengah, with 2,114 people.

The floods in Jasin, however, were subsiding, with only 419 people remaining in five centres, a flood operations room spokesman said.

The floods were also easing in Alor Gajah, with 1,568 people remaining in evacuation centres.

In Sabah, the last remaining flood relief centre in Gum Gum, Sandakan, was closed Tuesday.

A spokesman at the flood operations room said only the relief centre at Kampung Sim-Sim Melayu was open, housing 223 people who were evacuated because their houses were exposed to the risk of landslides.

In Beluran, 179 people were still in evacuation centres in Kampung Sungai-Sungai and Simpangan in Sugut. - Bernama


Read more/More news on: http://thestar.com.my/news/

Credits to and source taken from: http://thestar.com.my/news/