Thousands of people have evacuated their homes and moved to emergency accommodation in Malaysia after heavy rain caused further flooding.
The recent bout of heavy rain began on 01 January 2022. Kuantan in Pahang State recorded more than 300 mm of rain in 48 hours to 03 January. Mersing in Johor saw 229.8 mm of rain in 24 hours to 03 January.
As of 03 January the country’s disaster agency NADMA said that 14,459 people were taking shelter at 191 evacuation centres in Johor (3,966 evacuated), Melaka (2,617), Negeri Sembilan (1,975), Pahang (2,289) and Selangor (40) in Peninsular Malaysia. In Eastern Malaysia, floods in Sabah state caused 3,329 people to evacuate.
The hardest hit areas include Segamat in Johor; Alor Gajah and Melaka Tengah in Melaka; Tampin in Negeri Sembilan and Kota Marudu in Sabah.
Wide areas of Peninsular Malaysia have been blighted by floods since heavy rain first started around 17 December 2021. Combining figures for the December and January floods, NADMA reported on 02 January that a total of 125,490 people have been displaced but 117,700 already returned home. Fifty fatalities were reported (25 in Selangor, 21 in Pahang and 4 in Kelantan) and two people were reported missing.
