71 Schools Flooded, 59 Cut Off By Floods
(Bernama) — Seventy-one schools are flooded and 59 have been cut off by floodwaters in Pahang and Kelantan as the nation continues to grapple with the year-end floods that have so far affected the two states and Johor, Terengganu and Kedah as well.
Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said today 40 of the 71 flooded schools were in Pahang and 31 in Kelantan while 58 schools in Pahang and one in Kelantan were those cut off by floodwaters.
"A total of 103 schools have been turned into flood relief centres, 56 of them in Pahang, 24 in Johor and 23 in Kelantan," he said in a statement.
In KELANTAN, a spokesman of the state flood operations room said the number of evacuees in the Tumpat district went up tonight, to 2,239 from 2,054 in the evening, because the Sungai Golok burst its banks. He said the situation in flood-hit Pasir Mas district was improving, with the number of evacuees having dropped from 8,362 to 7,822.
The total number of evacuees in Kelantan stood at 10,338, down from 10,693 this evening.
The spokesman said Jalan Pasir Mas-Rantau Panjang (Km 13) and Jalan Tumpat-Pengkalan Kubor were closed to traffic. The stretch of Jalan Gua Musang-Kuala Krai at Km65 and the alternative old Kota Baharu-Jeli-Dabong-Meranto-Gua Musang road were also closed because of a landslide. People travelling by road to Kelantan can use the East West Highway from Gerik in Perak or via Terengganu.
In PAHANG, most of the districts including Pekan, which is the worst affected, showed a drop in the number of evacuees, except Temerloh which recorded an increase.
According to a spokesman of the Pahang police flood operations room, 22,754 people were still at 148 relief centres in the state as at 8pm, down from 23,026 people in the morning. The number of evacuees in Temerloh rose to 4,576. The others were in Bera (2,257), Pekan (9,532), Maran (3,223), Rompin (1,959) and Kuantan (1,207).
He said the trunk road between Pekan and Rompin at Km19; Km8 of Jalan Rompin-Muadzam Shah, Jalan Kuantan-Segamat and Jalan Temerloh-Triang were still closed to all vehicles.
Meanwhile, Rompin OCPD DSP Abdullah Sani Salat said the bodies of the two latest victims of the floods in Pahang, Zamri Mohamad, 29, from Kampung Lang Kiri, Rompin, and an Indonesian, only known as "Aton", 50, were found floating in Sungai Endau, Rompin, today. The two men were reported missing on Sunday after they went fishing.
In KEDAH, four men who went to tap rubber near Tanjung Piring, Nami, in Kuala Nerang were trapped by floods but were reportedly safe as one of them was reached by telephone. Mohd Najib Abdullah, 70, Latih Yahya, 70, Manaf Rejab, 43, and Silah Yaakob, 42, are from Pokok Sena.
Padang Terap police chief DSP Hamzan Darus said 20 soldiers from the 6th Royal Malay Regiment in Kepala Batas were looking for the men.
A spokesman of the Kedah flood operations room said 1,385 people in the Padang Terap district had been evacuated due to the floods. In the Sik district, 250 people had been moved to relief centres.
The flood-hit areas were Kampung Kota Aur, Kampung Kuala Beris, Kampung Mambong, Kampung Mambong Kiri, Kuala Begia, Kuala Jeneri, Brona Kiri, Kuala Roman, Padang Pulut and Dang Lau.
In JOHOR, the number of flood evacuees dropped to 3,021 from 4,643 people earlier in the day. Most of the evacuees who returned to their homes were from Johor Baharu. In the other districts, 1,515 people are still at relief centres in Muar, 1,195 in Segamat and 18 in Kota Tinggi.
Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department has issued a warning of strong north-easterly winds of 40 kph to 50 kph and waves as high as 3 metres in the waters off Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, eastern Johor, Sarawak, Labuan and western Sabah until Dec 29.
A statement issued by the department said the situation was dangerous to small boats and all forms of maritime activities.
A high tide phenomenon is expected in the coastal areas of the east coast of the peninsula and western Sarawak between Friday and Dec 29, it said.
