KUCHING • More than 5,600 people have been evacuated after heavy rains brought floods to several districts in the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem said yesterday the situation is under control and the rain is expected to ease off.
Floods hit several places in the Kuching, Bau and Serian districts over the past few days due to the rains and the high tide, reported Bernama news agency.
State Civil Defence Department public relations officer Siti Huzaimah Ibrahim said the flood victims have been moved to relief centres.
There were 14 centres in Kuching and five in Bau, according to The Star newspaper.
Although the weather was expected to improve, Deputy State Secretary Misnu Taha warned the public that water levels could rise again during high tide. He advised residents in low-lying areas to be on alert.
Over in Peninsular Malaysia, the flood situation continued to improve in Malacca, with just over 100 flood victims remaining at relief centres as of yesterday.
In Pulau Redang, off the eastern state of Terengganu, some 100 holidaymakers were stranded from Sunday after boat services to the mainland were suspended due to rough sea conditions.
Sixty of them managed to arrive safely on the mainland on Tuesday evening, leaving 40 behind on the island.
Boat services were suspended due to huge waves, strong winds and rough seas.
Meanwhile in Indonesia, at least 5,000 people were forced to flee their homes after a torrential downpour caused the Kali Lamong river in Gresik district in East Java to breach its banks.
Incessant rains since Monday have left more than 2,000 homes there in waters up to a metre deep and triggered floods that swept away three levees, prompting residents to evacuate to higher ground, Jakarta Globe news site reported.
Hundreds of hectares of farmlands were affected.
Mr Hary Tirto Djatmiko, head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency's information division, said more heavy rains are expected in the coming days in East and Central Java, as well as in eastern Aceh province.
In 2013, extensive flooding triggered by heavy rains in Jakarta left 32 people dead and forced nearly 46,000 to leave their homes.