KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar apologised today for not being out of Terengganu when severe floods have displaced thousands of the state’s residents.

According to the Malaysiakini news portal, Ahmad Samsuri tendered his apology in a press conference in Kemaman today, shortly after returning from New Zealand.

"I understand that whatever I say now, they will not mean anything.

"However, I just want to put it on record that I was monitoring the flood situation, and I decided to travel overseas when there were signs of the floods receding,” he was quoted as saying.

Ahmad Samsuri added that the flooding in the state worsened suddenly when he was already abroad.

Critics began calling out the Terengganu MB earlier in the week, after it emerged that he had travelled to Auckland with his family even as parts of the state were already flooding.

Floods have forced tens of thousands of Terengganu residents to seek shelter in hundreds of temporary relief centres in all eight districts of Kemaman, Besut, Dungun, Hulu Terengganu, Setiu, Kuala Nerus, Kuala Terengganu and Marang, according to the State Disaster Management Committee.

Today, the PAS lawmaker insisted the state government’s flood mitigation plan had started months ago, such as assessing the availability of resources and regular monitoring of the state’s rivers.

"Even during my absence between Dec 18 and 21, I was communicating with the relevant agencies for updates.

"Matters that did not require by authority as the mentri besar were handled by the heads of the respective agencies,” he explained.

While acknowledging that the floods had overwhelmed the state’s preparations in some ways, he argued that this was due to the severity of the phenomenon this year’

Among others, there were reportedly problems with the supply of food to evacuees and logistics with transferring some affected households between the temporary relief centres.

"For this, I would like to apologise to my people. We promise to fix the situation in the near future,” the MB said.

Earlier this week, political rivals pointed out that the Terengganu MB from PAS had been notable absent from the state just as the annual inter-monsoon season was peaking and displacing tens of thousands of residents in the state.

While the flooding has since eased, there were still nearly 26,000 evacuees all across Terengganu today, according to the State Disaster Management Committee.