Five dead and over 100,000 displaced in Malaysia flooding

Malaysian Prime Minister cuts short his US vacation to deal with his country's worst case of flooding in decades

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak seen golfing with Barack Obama
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak seen golfing with Barack Obama

At least five people have died and more than 100,000 have been displaced after Malaysia was hit with its worst case of flooding in decades.

Malaysian authorities have evacuated a number of villages and towns in five flooded provinces following unusually strong torrential rains. Over 105,000 people have sought refuge in schools, community halls and other relief centres, according to flood monitoring centres. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak decided to cut short his US vacation on Friday so as to deal with his country's crisis. Najib had been heavily criticised for holidaying in Hawaii, where he was seen golfing with United States President Barack Obama.
He released a statement on Friday saying he would return to his home country Saturday and head straight to the flood-ravaged Kelantan state to oversee relief efforts.

"I am deeply concerned by the floods. I feel for the people who have lost their homes, and the families who have lost loved ones," Najih said. "I want to see the situation for myself and be with the people".

The government said it was the worst flooding to have hit Malaysia in more than 30 years. On Friday, it ordered the deployment of more helicopters, boats and land vehicles. . The meteorological department said that rain was expected to continue until the weekend.

Najib had said earlier that bad weather and high floodwaters made it tough to transport displaced people and food supplies. Heavy rain was expected to continue until the weekend, the meteorological department said.

Neighbouring Thailand has also been hit by severe flash floods that killed at least 13 people on Friday, prompting the country’s disaster prevention and mitigation department to declare disaster zones in eight of its southern provinces. The zones are in Surat Thani, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Pattalung, Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Songkhla and also Trang, which has been flooded since mid-December.

Over 184,000 Thai households have been affected by the floods and nearly 8,000 displaced, according to the department.