MELAKA: Flash floods in Alor Gajah and Melaka Tengah have seen 1,096 people displaced so far as run-off rainwater from storms in Negri Sembilan overflowed downstream in the state.
State Disaster Management Committee secretariat head Effendy Ali said as of 5pm, there 1,021 victims from 229 families in Alor Gajah and another 75 from 18 families in Melaka Tengah.
About noon, the number of displaced persons had stood at 745, but this had increased by 351 by 5pm, he said.
“However, the number of evacuation centres remains the same, with 10 in Alor Gajah and one in Melaka Tengah,” he said.
Earlier, Effendy had said even though there were only scattered showers in Melaka, the heavy storms in neighbouring Negri Sembilan had caused rivers there to swell.
These rivers which also flowed through Melaka had increased volume of water which caused flash floods to occur, particularly in Alor Gajah district.
Meanwhile, state Works, Transport and Public Amenities Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Sofi Abdul Wahab said the Melaka government was aware of the needs of certain residents who had asked for placements in public housing projects so that they could avoid falling victim to continuous flash floods.
However, the Durian Tunggal assemblyman said he hoped these residents would be a little patient as the government was in the process of solving their woes.
“Yes, we know that they need to move, otherwise they will face the same problems every year. We will have to look at the availability of people’s housing projects (PPR). "As of now, all the PPR units have been taken up, so we hope they will be patient,” he said.
Residents of Kampung Belimbing Dalam in Durian Tunggal had earlier expressed hope that the state government would allocate PPR units, which had been promised them, as soon as possible.
The village, which is actually situated on railway reserve land, is affected by floods each time it rains heavily.