Six Sabah districts affected by floods

KOTA KINABALU: Six districts in Sabah have been affected by flood while two experienced the big tide phenomenon.

The six districts that faced flooding were Kota Marudu, Pitas, Beaufort, Lahad Datu, Paitan and Kudat; while Kudat and the State capital experienced the big tide phenomenon.

According to Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor in a statement, a total of 173 villages and 841 people were impacted and were now temporarily sheltered at 16 Temporary Relocation Centres as of noon yesterday.

Until 4 pm yesterday, only 287 people stayed on at the seven remaining temporary shelters.

The affected districts’ Disaster Operation Control Centre were activated with 635 personnel from various agencies in the rescue mission to relocate the flood and big tide victims, he said.

He also said that the government through the General Welfare Services Department and the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) had channeled assistance in the form of cooked food to all victims who were relocated to the temporary shelters as well as given food baskets worth RM200 for each head of families.

In addition, NADMA also distributed RM500 cash to each of the heads of families, he said.

These were coordinated by the Malaysia Civil Defence team (APM) and district offices involved, said Hajiji.

“In facing the flood and the big tide during the Covid-19 pandemic, the State government places priority that all parties involved must follow the Standard Operating Procedures that had been fixed so that we can break the spread of the pandemic,” he said.