Heavy rains this week triggered widespread flooding across several Malaysian states, forcing over 80,000 people to evacuate and leaving four dead, officials said on Friday.
Disaster officials said that four people have died across the states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak. And officials at the National Disaster Command Centre confirmed that 80,589 people were moved to 467 temporary shelters across seven states.
The disaster centre confirmed deployment of search and rescue teams to assist operations in affected regions, particularly in Kelantan. The northeastern regions of Kelantan and Terengganu experienced the most severe impact.
A meteorological department spokesperson told AFP that, widespread rainfall is expected to continue nationwide until Saturday. The country, home to 34 million people, experiences annual flooding due to the northeast monsoon, which brings substantial rainfall between November and March.
Earlier on Thursday, deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that current floods were “expected to be more severe than in 2014”, when approximately 118,000 people were displaced, the official Bernama news agency reported.
Zahid, who heads the National Disaster Management Committee, confirmed that substantial emergency personnel, along with rescue boats, four-wheel-drive vehicles and helicopters, have been stationed in flood-prone states.
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