East coast grapples with flood woes

KUALA LUMPUR: Floods continue to affect the east coast with rough seas, strong winds and high waves bringing hard times for fishermen in Dungun as they are unable to go out to sea.
In Kelantan, the number of flood victims dropped to 18,012 yesterday morning from 18,570 on Sunday night, while the number of evacuation centres in seven districts in the state dropped to 56 from 65.
The state government's flood portal said the number of evacuees in Pasir Mas, however, increased to 11,930 compared with 11,408 on Sunday night but Tumpat registered a drop from 5,328 to 4,712.
In Kuala Krai there was also a drop to 350 evacuees from 814 on Sunday night.
The water level in Sungai Golok at Rantau Panjang exceeded the danger level of 9m, registering 10.42m yesterday morning.
No main roads were closed to traffic throughout the state in the morning but the weather remained cloudy.
Four people have died since the second wave of floods hit Kelantan on Dec 16.
Kelantan Tenaga Nasional Berhad said electricity supply that was disrupted in Rantau Panjang and several other areas due to the floods, had been fully restored.
In Kuala Terengganu, the number of flood evacuees in Terengganu remained above 5,000 yesterday afternoon as the flood situation remained unchanged.

Dungun still has the most number of victims with 2,208 followed by Kemaman (1,572) and Kuala Terengganu (917).
According to the state National Security Council, 50 relief centres were still in operation with 18 in Dungun and 17 in Kemaman.
A survey at Kampung Balik Bukit in Dungun found more than 50 fishermen have docked and brought their boats to shore due to rough seas, strong winds of 60km per hour and waves of up to 5.5m high.
Fisherman Omar Abdul Rahman, 58, said the unfavourable conditions have made it difficult for coastal fishermen to catch fish.
Mustafa Ibrahim, 67, said they used to earn between RM100 and RM200 daily but have now lost their source of income.
Ramli Muda, 46, said they hope to be able to go out to sea again in February next year.
"As we are currently unable to fish, we are using this time to repair our trawlers, boat and other equipment," he said, adding they were grateful to receive RM200 in cost of living aid to get through the difficult time.
In KUANTAN, the number of people evacuated due to floods has increased to 657 at 11 relief centres yesterday afternoon compared with 318 at eight centres recorded earlier in the morning.
A Kuantan district police headquarters' flood operations room spokesman said three new relief centres were opened at Wisma Belia Indera Mahkota, Panching low-cost public housing hall and Kampung Sungai Soi community hall.
The other eight relief centres are Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pandan, Sungai Lembing police station, Kampung Seri Damai community hall, Sekolah Kebangsaan Cherating, Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Ular, Kampung Chendor community hall, Kampung Semangat community hall and Sekolah Kebangsan Kempadang.
He said three main roads at Kilometre 16 and 31 of Jalan Kuantan-Sungai Lembing and Jalan Bandar Sungai Lembing were closed to all traffic.
Meanwhile, a Pahang police contingent headquarters Flood Operations Room spokesman confirmed that there were no flood victims in other districts.
The Drainage and Irrigation Department website showed three rivers in Pahang had breached the warning level, namely Sungai Pahang at Sungai Yap (50.17m) surpassing the warning level of 50.00m, Sungai Kuantan at Pasir Kemudi (6.54m) surpassing the warning level of 6.40m and Sungai Kuantan at Kuantan Bypass (3.23m) exceeding the warning level of 3.15m.
The Meteorological Department had also issued an red-level heavy rain warning, saying that the intermittent rain occasionally heavy occurring over Pahang (Kuantan, Jerantut, Maran, Pekan and Rompin) was expected to persist until today. – Bernama