Zakaria Ismail, 71 carries his pet cats that were trapped in his house after heavy rain continued in Kampung Nyatoh, Penarik in Terengganu December 4, 2020. — Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 — The number of evacuees in Kelantan and Pahang have continued to rise while the flood situation in Terengganu is slowly improving.

The number of evacuees in Kelantan rose to 323 people at 5pm compared to 283 in the morning.

According to the Social Welfare Department (JKM) disaster information website, Tanah Merah and Pasir Mas were the latest districts to be affected by floods after Kota Bharu and Pasir Puteh, with 11 temporary relief centres (PPS) opened compared to nine this morning.

Eight evacuees from two families are placed at the centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Kubang Kual, Pasir Mas while in Tanah Merah, 12 people from three families are housed at the Balai Raya Padang Kijang PPS.

In Kota Baru, 84 evacuees from 17 families are housed in three evacuation centres, with Pasir Puteh recording the highest number of evacuees, 219 individuals.

The increase in the number of flood evacuees is due to the downpour since yesterday morning.

According to the Department of Irrigation and Drainage’s (DID’s) website (http://publicinfobanjir.water.gov.my), the water level reading of Sungai Golok in Rantau Panjang was above the danger level with a reading of 9.26 metres but was on a downward trend as of 5pm today.

In Pahang, the JKM disaster information portal reported that five PPS were in operation in Raub as of 4pm, housing a total of 109 people from 34 families, compared to 55 evacuees from 19 families this morning.

SK Ulu Sungai was the centre with the most number of evacuees, 42 people from 11 families from Kampung Sungai Ulu, followed by Masjid Kampung Kuala Semantan (38 people, 12 families), Balai Raya Kampung Sengkela (12 people, four families), SK Tersang (11 people, three families) and Balai Umno Kampung Batu Talam (six people, four families).

Checks conducted by Bernama in Raub revealed that while the floods that began in the early morning had started to recede, evacuees were advised to remain at the evacuation centres as a precautionary measure due to continuous rain and to avoid having to evacuate a second time.

Meanwhile, the DID website reported that the Sungai Lipis in Batu Malim, which bursts its banks and caused floods in Raub as of 4pm, recorded a water level of 114.61 m compared to its normal level of 113.2 m, has shown a downward trend compared to this morning.

Besides Sungai Lipis, Sungai Triang in Taman Agropolitan Chemomoi, Benong was also at the warning level (52.57m) while two other rivers were at alert levels — Sungai Jempol in Ran Felda Jengka, Maran (29.85m) and Sungai Serting at Padang Gudang bridge, Bera (29.79m).

In Terengganu, the number of evacuees dropped to 2,130 individuals from 550 families as of 4pm compared to 2,802 individuals from 781 families at 8am.

This is following the closure of 18 PPS, bringing the current total number of PPS to 58 compared to 76 this morning.

Terengganu Disaster Management Committee secretariat chief Lt Col (PA) Che Adam A. Rahman said the district with the most closures was Setiu with 12 centres, followed by Besut (three) and one each in Dungun, Kuala Terengganu and Kuala Nerus.

Meanwhile, DID data showed that two rivers were still above the danger level, namely Sungai Nerus in Kampung Langkap, Setiu with a water level of 21.21m (danger level of 21m) and Sungai Tebak in Kemaman with a water level of 18.54m (danger level of 18.5m). — Bernama