KUALA LUMPUR – After 24 hours without heavy rain in several states, it has brought some relief and joy to the flood victims, which have now entered their third day yesterday.
However, the hot weather that allowed the water situation in some areas to start receding also brought sad news. The body count of those who died in the recent floods has started to emerge.
Eight bodies were found in Selangor, while in Pahang, the number of casualties was six with another four still reported missing in the Bentong floods.
This brings the tally of people who perished in the floods, which struck eight states, to 14.
Another 66,939 victims had to be relocated to 466 flood relief centres in Selangor, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Perak and Kuala Lumpur.
Three more bodies were found in Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam, which is the worst affected area in Selangor while four more victims of mudflow in Telemong, Bentong, Pahang.
Selangor police chief Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed said in Selangor, besides four deaths in Shah Alam, two more deaths were recorded in Kajang and one each in Sg Buloh and Sepang.
The body of a man in his 30s believed to be the first drowning victim was found at the main entrance to the Alam Idaman Apartment in Section 22 in Shah Alam at 7.50pm yesterday. The body was found after floodwater started to recede yesterday evening with a 14 second video of the discovery, which went viral on social media.
Police also confirmed the discovery of three more drowning victims in Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam.
Shah Alam police chief ACP Baharudin Mat Taib said all victims were males. Two of them were found at 1am while another body was found at 5am by the public and the Fire and Rescue Department while they were doing rescue work. The bodies were taken to Shah Alam Hospital for further action.
Meanwhile, Selangor Fire and Rescue Department director Norazam Khamis said, two male victims were found in Dengkil and the body of a man was found in Sepang today while another body of a man was found in Desa Coalfields, Kuala Selangor yesterday.
Apart from that, several break-in incidents of convenience stores were reported in the Taman Sri Muda area, which was badly affected by the floods.
The break-ins were reported to have occurred at around 1pm to 2pm, which Baarudin confirmed to Bernama.
In Pahang, factory operator M. Gunalan, 38, became the first casualty in the state after his body was found at 2.22pm on Friday about 100m away from the location he was reported to have fallen, while trying to ride his motorcycle in the flood near a Chinese cemetery in Gambang.
The second victim recorded in the state involved a man who was reported missing at 1am yesterday, after he was said to have also tried to drive his Proton Exora car in the flood water near Kg Cempaka with a friend before the vehicle stranded.
Meanwhile, the bodies of three women and one man, believed to be from a group of five individuals were reported missing in the mud floods in Telemong, here, were found by a search and rescue team today. The operations started at 9am in the area where they were reported missing.
The body of the male victim was found at 1pm today, while the bodies of the three women were found at 1.20pm and 4.23pm about 2km to 5km from the area they were reported to be swept away by floodwaters near a river in the village.
In Perak, although the weather is forecasted to be good in most places, the authorities will continue to monitor the situation in high-risk areas to prevent any untoward incidents from occurring.
In Terengganu, water levels at the main rivers in the state are back to normal levels except at the Sg Kemaman reading station at the Paya Pama pump house, which recorded a level of 4.45m over the danger level of 4m.
In Kuala Lumpur, a total of 371 flood victims are still placed at three relief centres and the fine weather yesterday saw 10 roads that were previously closed after being flooded have been re-opened.
In Kelantan, the four major rivers in the state are still at dangerous levels, namely Sg Lebir in Tualang, Kuala Krai recorded a reading of 36.67m, Sg Kelantan in Tangga Krai (25.10m) , Sg Kelantan at the Guillemard bridge (16.29 m) and Sg Golok in Rantau Panjang, Pasir Mas (10.19m)
In Negri Sembilan, state Civil Defence Force director Mohd Syukri Madnor said flood victims in the state who were still housed at relief centres have gone down following good weather conditions. – Bernama, December 21, 2021
