Floods forecast in Kelantan, Terengganu

The Meteorological Department of Malaysia has issued a danger level weather warning of continuous heavy rain in the east coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang until tomorrow.

The warning issued at 1.25pm said the areas involved in the three states are Jeli (Kelantan), Kemaman (Terengganu) and Kuantan (Pahang).

An orange bad weather alert for continuous heavy rain was issued for areas including Tanah Merah, Machang, Kuala Krai and Gua Musang in Kelantan; Besut Hulu Terengganu and Dungun in Terengganu; as well as Jerantut, Maran and Pekan in Pahang until Jan 1.

The Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) is also forecasting floods in stages at several areas in Kelantan and Terengganu tonight.

According to a statement issued by the DID National Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre, the risk of floods is forecast in Kelantan at 8pm in the districts of Jeli, Kuala Krai, Tanah Merah, Machang, Gua Musang and Pasir Mas.

Floods are forecast in Terengganu in stages at 8pm tonight in several districts including Setiu, Dungun, Hulu Terengganu and Besut, while the risk of floods is forecast in Pahang tomorrow in the districts of Lipis, Raub, Maran, Temerloh and Jerantut as well as the surrounding low-lying areas.

“Other areas in Pahang are around Sungai Kuantan, Sungai Rompin, Sungai Pontian and Sungai Endau involving areas around Kuantan and Rompin,” the statement said.

In Johor, floods are expected at 2pm tomorrow involving the areas around Sungai Mersing, Sungai Endau, Sungai Johor, Sungai Skudai and Sungai Tebrau in the districts of Mersing, Kluang, Kota Tinggi, and Johor Bahru.

An alert level warning of continuous rain until Jan 1 is forecast in Perlis; Kedah (Kubang Pasu, Pokok Sena, Padang Terap, Pendang, Sik and Baling); Perak (Hulu Perak); Kelantan (Tumpat, Pasir Mas, Kota Bharu, Bachok and Pasir Putih); Terengganu (Setiu, Kuala Nerus, Kuala Terengganu and Marang); Pahang (Cameron Highlands, Lipis, Raub, Bentong, Temerloh, Bera and Rompin); and Johor.

Continuous rain is also expected in Sabah in the west coast (Ranau); Tawau (Lahad Datu); Sandakan (Telupid, Kinabatangan, Beluran and Sandakan); as well as Kudat until Jan 2.

The National Disaster Control Centre (NDCC) of the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) in a statement announced that the disaster management committees at state and district levels should heighten their preparedness to face potential calamities, especially in high-risk areas.

State and district disaster management committees have also been told to ensure that temporary relief centres have the required basic necessities and on-scene command posts have the operational assets for use.

Nadma via the NDCC will be monitoring the technical parameters with the cooperation of various technical agencies.