Floods kill 8, tens of thousands evacuate in Malaysia, Thailand

KUALA LUMPUR: Flooding in northern Malaysia and southern Thailand has killed at least eight people and forced tens of thousands from their homes, officials in both countries said on Friday.

More than 80,000 people were evacuated to 467 temporary shelters in Malaysia this week, with four deaths recorded across the northern states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak, according to disaster officials.

Floods in neighbouring Thailand killed two people in Pattani province and two in Songkhla province, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said on its Facebook page.

More than 240,000 households in southern Thailand have been affected by the flooding, it said, following days of heavy rain.

Images from Pattani showed knee-high waters lapping at shuttered shopfronts and a rescue team evacuating some residents by boat.

“The flood level is high, so it´s impossible to move our belongings elsewhere,” one resident in Pattani told Thai broadcaster PBS.

“We have to sacrifice them.”

Malaysia´s National Disaster Command Centre said it had mobilised a team to aid rescue operations in affected states.