(Kuala Lumpur) More than 22,000 people were evacuated Sunday in Malaysia due to the worst floods in the country in seven years, according to government figures.
The torrential rains that have fallen since Friday in this Southeast Asian country accustomed to monsoon storms at the end of the year, have caused river floods, inundating urban areas and preventing traffic on major roads.
A government website reports more than 22,000 flood victims in eight states, including more than 10,000 in Pahang state in central Malaysia.
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob expressed surprise to see the country’s richest state, Selangor, which surrounds the capital Kuala Lumpur, caught in the floods, forcing more than 5,000 people to leave their homes.
“In Selangor, this happened as if by surprise, because the monsoon season […] rarely causes flooding in Selangor, ”he told a press conference late Saturday night.
Water levels remained unsafe Sunday morning in six central and northeastern states, according to a government website.
As the rain subsided in some areas, the meteorological service warned that rainfall was expected to continue in parts of Pahang.
Malaysia experienced its worst floods in 2014, forcing 118,000 people to leave their homes.