Thousands of people have had to flee amid worsening flooding caused by heavy rains in seven Malaysian states, authorities said on Sunday, as more than 125,000 people have already been displaced in total since mid-December. .
The National Emergency Management Agency said the bad weather would continue until Tuesday. Around 50 people have lost their lives so far in the inclement weather, and two people are missing, according to a police message on Facebook on Saturday.
Annual flooding
Malaysia suffers from floods every year during the rainy season, which regularly results in mass evacuations. But authorities were caught off guard by the continued rains that began on December 17, causing floods and inundating towns.
One of the worst affected regions is Selangor, the richest and most densely populated state in the country, which surrounds the capital Kuala Lumpur. About 117,000 of those evacuated since mid-December have been able to return home, but nearly 10,000 people have had to seek refuge in relief centers, according to official data.