Kelantan, Terengganu floods claim first casualties

b>KUALA LUMPUR: The floods in Kelantan and Terengganu have claimed the first victims after two boys were found drowned today.
In Kelantan, six-year-old Muhammad Fawwaz Atiqullah Kamarulnizam was found drowned after falling into a river at Kampung Peria Baru, in Kuala Krai.
Meanwhile, 12-year-old Khalid Al-Walid Juzaiman was found drowned in a canal in Kampung Tok Hakim, Bukit Payung, here at 1.30pm.
A spokesman for the Fire and Rescue Department said fire and rescue personnel found the body about three hours after Khalid was reported to have fallen into the canal, at about 10am.
"The boy was playing near the canal, swollen due to the heavy rain on Monday night. He had gone there with two of his friends.
"The friends are safe. The body of Khalid was found about 30m away from where he had fallen into the water," the spokesman said in a statement.
While the situation in Kelantan and Terengganu worsened, Kelantan does not expect a recurrence of the mammoth floods of 2014 for this year although five districts now remain submerged from rising flood waters.
The optimism comes because there was no serious warning from the Meteorological Services Department other than the routine flood weather warnings, said State Local Government, Housing, Youth and Sports committee chairman Datuk Abdul Fattah Mahmood.
Nonetheless, the weather forecast can be unpredictable so the state has issued a reminder to the local authorities to be on guard during the annual monsoon period now.
"We are ready to address another wave of flooding, with the first stream of people affected being moved to flood relief centres," Abdul Fattah said.
According to the national welfare authorities flood count online report, there were 86 flood evacuation centres opened with the number of victims rising from 1,600 yesterday monring to 4,214 people in Kelantan and Terengganu by 3.30pm.
The evacuees were being accommodated at 45 relief centres in Kota Baru, Pasir Mas, Tanah Merah, Pasir Puteh, Kuala Krai, Machang and Bachok, Bernama reported.
In Terengganu, the evacuees are being housed at 35 relief centres in the districts of Setiu, Hulu Terengganu, Besut, Dungun, Marang and Kuala Nerus.
The flood information portal of the Kelantan Department of Irrigation and Drainage reported that the level of Sungai Golok in Rantau Panjang had breached the danger point of nine metres to register 10.30m yesterday afternoon, up from 10.06m in the morning.
Perlis was also affected by floods on Monday night and 46 families from two villages, Kampung Padang Malau and Kampung Padang Malau Dalam in Padang Besar, were moved to relief centres.
The Perlis Civil Defence Force, which doubles up as the State Disaster Management Committee secretariat, yesterday said 26 houses in Kampung Padang Malau and 20 in Kampung Padang Malau Dalam were affected by the floods.