JOHOR BARU: The flood situation in Johor is worsening as the number of evacuees has jumped to 1,093 people as of 4pm from 422 at 2pm today.
The victims from 200 families have been placed in 13 flood evacuation centres in Segamat, Kluang and Kota Tinggi.
State Disaster Management Committee chair Tan Sri Dr Azmi Rohani, in a statement today, said the number of victims more than doubled in just two hours.
Segamat recorded the highest number of flood evacuees with 975 victims from 273 families.
Eight flood relief centres were opened in the district.
One-hundred-and-four people are seeking shelter at the Pekan Air Panas multipurpose hall, 59 at the Kampung Sungai Gatom hall in Labis, 68 at the Kampung Paya Merah multipurpose hall, 123 at the Segamat Kecil Kampung Orang Asli Village multipurpose hall, 17 at the Kampung Seberang Batu Badak hall, 477 at SK Kampung Tenang Labis, 72 at SKJ(C) Ai Chun Chinese and 55 at the Kampung Usaha Jaya hall.
Two more flood evacuation centres were opened in Kluang, complementing the district's existing two.
Thirty-six people are seeking shelter at Sekolah Agama Seri Tengah 1, four at Kampung GSA Chamek, eight at SMK Seri Perdana and 27 at SJK( C) Ping Ming.
In Kota Tinggi, Dewan Kampung Baru Sungai Mas was activated as an evacuation centre with 43 victims from six families relocated to the facility.
Based on the Malaysian Meteorological Department's reports, Johor is among the states that have been put under red alert until tomorrow.
This alert is a warning for adverse weather and dangerous events, such as floods.
Today's rain, which began in the morning, showed no signs of letting up.
Three rivers in Segamat continue to exceed the danger or red alert levels, namely Sungai Gemas (19.04m), Sungai Lenik (6.40m) and Sungai Segamat (37.97m).
Sungai Kahang in Kluang also recorded a reading above the danger level of 14.41m.
Two other rivers in Segamat are nearing the danger level — namely Sungai Muar (19.76m) and Sungai Labis (40.53m)
