Floods force Malaysia mass evaculation

Kuala Lumpur, MY: -- More than 92,500 people were forced to leave their homes by Sunday due to worsening floods in Johor state in southern Malaysia, the official Bernama news agency reported.

Excessive rainfall for the past few weeks caused one of the century's worst flooding in the state, costing more than 80 million ringgit (18.2 million dollars) in losses.

Over the weekend, the floods caused landslides and major damage to roads as water levels were reported to reach more than 1-metre high in most areas.

The Johor region was first hit by the floods last month, when some 90,000 people were evacuated.

The flood victims had just begun returning to their homes when the state was hit by the second wave of floods.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi aid a state of emergency would be declared if the situation continued to worsen.

"The government already has in place an operation manual when facing this kind of situation," he told reporters.

A total of 17 people have been killed by the inundations. The country's Meteorological Department warned that the heavy rain, brought on by the monsoon season, would continue till next week.

-- Bangkok Post 2007-01-14

Holy moley! Too bad for those poor folks....