Emergency services in Malaysia deployed boats and trucks on Tuesday as thousands of villagers were stranded after four days of heavy rain caused flooding in east coast states, officials said.
Floods in Terengganu and Kelantan states forced authorities to shut down dozens of schools and roads to villages have been cut off.
The east coast regularly experiences tropical storms and heavy showers during the monsoon. In the last two days in oil-rich Terengganu over a thousand people have been evacuated from their homes, and rescue officials predict the numbers will rise.
Che Adam Abdul Rahman, civil department force chief in Terengganu, told AFP that 700 rescue officers have been deployed in the state to carry out search and rescue operations.
Many of the rural roads are impassable, he said.
“We have now deployed boats and trucks to evacuate the villagers to relief centres, and with continuous rain we expect the number of flood evacuees to rise,” Che Adam warned.