Malaysia: major floods evacuate 29,000 people

Relief is rushing to residents of Hulu Langat, a district on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Sunday, December 19.

The country is experiencing its worst flooding in seven years.

AP - Vincent Thian

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

More than 29,000 people were evacuated this Sunday, December 19 in Malaysia, due to the worst floods known by the country in seven years, according to government figures.

Torrential rains have hit the country since Friday.

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Malaysia is used to monsoon storms at the end of the year.

But the rains that this Southeast Asian country has been experiencing since Friday have caused significant consequences: river flooding, flooding, interruption of traffic on major roads and evacuations of thousands of people.

This Sunday, December 19, more than 29,000 people had to be evacuated. A government website reports more than 22,000 flood victims in eight states, including more than 10,000 in Pahang state, in central Malaysia. Prime Minister 

Ismail Sabri Yaakob

 expressed his surprise to see the country's richest state, Selangor, which surrounds the capital Kuala Lumpur, caught in the floods, forcing more than 5,000 people to leave their homes.

The amount of rain that fell in Selangor yesterday, which fell in a day, normally falls in a month,

 " he said at a press conference on Sunday, pledging swift aid to flood victims and an emergency fund of 100 million ringgit (21 million euros).

118,000 displaced in 2014

According to a government website, water levels remained dangerous Sunday morning in six central and northeastern states.

As the rain subsided in some areas, the meteorological service warned that rainfall was expected to continue in parts of Pahang.

Malaysia experienced

its worst flooding in 2014

.

These had forced 118,000 people to leave their homes.

(With AFP)

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