Over 122,000 people have been displaced from their homes due to severe flooding caused by continuous heavy rainfall, which inundated Malaysia’s northern states, disaster officials reported on Saturday.
The number of displaced surpassed the 118,000 affected during one of the country’s worst flood events in 2014, and officials expressed concern that the figure could rise further, as the torrential rain showed no sign of easing.
The death toll remained at four, with casualties recorded in Kelantan, Terengganu, and Sarawak.
According to the National Disaster Management Agency, the Kelantan state was the hardest hit, accounting for 63% of the 122,631 displaced people.
Nearly 35,000 people were evacuated in Terengganu, with the remaining displacements reported across seven other states.
Heavy rains, which began earlier in the week, continued to batter Pasir Puteh town in Kelantan, where residents were seen wading through streets submerged in hip-deep water.
Flooding is a regular occurrence in the Southeast Asian nation of 34 million people due to the northeast monsoon, which brings heavy rains from November to March.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who chairs the National Disaster Management Committee, thousands of emergency personnel, rescue boats, four-wheel-drive vehicles, and helicopters were deployed to the affected states.
