KLUANG • As strong floodwater currents took hold of their Proton Waja, a worried husband broke the car window to let his wife out - where she was later rescued by passers-by.
Mr Md Rajihan Junaidi, 28, however, was not as fortunate.
After a three-day search, the authorities found his body in a banana farm about 100m away from the main road yesterday evening.
Kluang police chief Low Hang Seng confirmed that Mr Rajihan's body had been found.
"The incident occurred at about 5.30pm on Saturday at Batu 18 Jalan Batu Pahat-Mersing near Kahang. The victim had tried to cross the road in his car, but was pushed to the right side of the road by the strong current," said Mr Low.
"The victim broke a window to free his wife. She was later rescued by members of the public. However, he could not get out in time as the car was swept away by the currents," he said.
This was the third life lost due to floods in Johor, reported The Star. As at 8pm yesterday, the number of flood evacuees in the southern state stood at 5,524.
On Saturday, Johor recorded its first flood-related death after a 59-year-old woman fell into a drain along Jalan Setia in Kampung Contoh in Kluang. The body of Madam Halijah Majid was recovered by members of the public.
In a separate incident, a family of four on their way back to Muar from Mersing found themselves stranded along Jalan Kluang-Mersing, Kahang, for at least 11 hours before they were rescued.
SMK Bukit Pasir teacher Abdul Aziz Jemain and his wife Khairiyatul Asma, both 30, and their two toddlers reached Batu 17, Jalan Kluang-Mersing at around 3pm on Saturday - only to find the road flooded.
"I turned the car around to head back to my home town in Mersing but floodwaters had gushed onto the road at Batu 18.
"With the access cut off, we had no choice but to wait in the car, along with about 15 other vehicles, for help, which came at around 2am the following day," he said at the SMK Seri Sembrong temporary flood shelter on Sunday.
Meanwhile, in the eastern state of Pahang, fire and rescue personnel were searching yesterday for a woman and her daughter who were swept away by floodwaters after a boat they were on capsized in Sungai Jelai, Lipis, about 250km from state capital Kuantan, according to national news agency Bernama.
Madam Rozi Omar, 52, and Ms Zakirah Ahmad Husin, 19, were swept away by the currents which hit the boat in which Madam Rozi's husband Ahmad Husin Mad Aris, 52, and another daughter, Ms Nur Aina, 23, were also travelling, said Pahang Fire & Rescue Department Zone Three head Shahrulnizam Nasir.
The number of people displaced during the country's annual monsoon season, which runs from November to March, continued to rise in several states yesterday.
In Pahang, the number of evacuees rose to 13,626 at 200 relief centres in nine districts, with Maran recording the highest at 3,926.
The west coast states of Perak and Selangor were less badly affected.
Perak saw the number of flood evacuees exceed 1,000 last night, compared with 894 at noon.
Meanwhile, there were 174 people seeking shelter at relief centres in Bestari Jaya and Hulu Bernam in Selangor, said Selangor disaster management unit operations officer Muhammad Izzat Haziq Mohd Nazir.
In Terengganu, the number of flood victims rose to 1,044, with most of them from the Kemaman area.
