Floods in Malaysia displace over 22,000 people
Over 22,000 people were evacuated throughout Malaysia Sunday as the country faces some of its worst flooding in years.
The tropical Southeast Asian nation
often sees stormy monsoon seasons at the end of the year, with seasonal
flooding regularly causing mass evacuations.
Heavy downpours since Friday have
caused rivers to overflow, submerging many urban areas and cutting off major
roads, stranding thousands of motorists.
Almost 22,000 flood victims in eight
states and territories were recorded on an official government website, with
over 10,000 of them in the central state of Pahang.
More than 5,000 people fled their
homes in the country's richest state of Selangor -- which surrounds the capital
Kuala Lumpur - with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob expressing surprise at
the strong flooding there.
"In Selangor, the situation
happened as if by surprise because the monsoon season... rarely has floods
occurring in Selangor," he said in a late night Saturday press conference.
A government website showed water
exceeding dangerous levels in six central and northeastern states Sunday
morning.
Dozens of bus routes in and around
the Malaysian capital have been cancelled and train services leading to the
port city of Klang were suspended.
While the rainy weather has slowed
in some areas, the Meteorological Department warned that the downpour was
expected to continue in parts of Pahang.
Malaysia's worst flooding in decades
came in 2014, forcing some 118,000 people to flee.