50,000 displaced in Malaysia floods

50,000 displaced in Malaysia floods
Bangkok Post | November 05, 2010

Four people have been killed and almost 50,000 have been forced out of their homes and into relief camps as floods hit northern Malaysia, state media said Friday.

Rising waters have hit three Malaysian states on the border with Thailand, which has also been seriously affected.

An airport and a major highway have been closed, and train services and water supplies have also been disrupted by Malaysia's worst floods in five years.

The first fatalities were a 13-year-old boy and a 64-year-old German woman whose bodies were recovered in Kedah state earlier this week.

The bodies of two girls who fell into an irrigation canal in Kedah were recovered Thursday, state news agency Bernama said, and another two children who disappeared while playing in a flooded padi field were feared drowned.

Bernama said that nearly 50,000 people have now been taken to relief centres to escape the floods in Perlis, Kedah and Kelantan states.

Prime Minister Najib Razak urged flood victims and residents in the affected areas to be cautious.

"Don't treat this lightly, don't treat this as a carnival because the disaster can lead to fatalities," he said according to Bernama.