KUALA TERENGGANU: Terengganu has fully recovered from the first wave of floods caused by the Northeast Monsoon after the last temporary relief centre in Setiu closed at 9 pm today, according to the State Disaster Management Committee.
The East Coast state experienced its first floods of the season on the afternoon of Nov 19, starting in Kemaman, where 12 people from two families were affected at the Rumah Mampu Milik (RMM) Teluk Kalong housing area.
The floods later spread to Setiu, Hulu Terengganu, Marang, and Dungun, with the number of evacuees rising to 2,831 in 14 relief centres on the second day. Improved weather led to a decline in evacuees later that evening.
By the third and fourth days, only Kemaman remained affected, with 29 evacuees at a single relief centre. However, deteriorating weather on Nov 22 caused a resurgence of flood victims, with floods once again hitting Marang, Setiu, Dungun, Hulu Terengganu, and Besut becoming the next district to be impacted.
The flooding persisted for several days, and heavy rain on the morning of Nov 27 caused the number of evacuees to surge, exceeding 10,000 by midday on Nov 28. At that time, 10,228 evacuees from 3,022 families were housed in 150 relief centres, with Kuala Nerus becoming the latest district affected by 4 pm that day.
Two days later, Kuala Terengganu was also impacted, making all eight districts in the state flood-affected. The number of evacuees peaked at 43,581 on the morning of Dec 1, involving 11,757 families across 306 relief centres.
The following day, the number of evacuees began to decline as the weather improved. Besut became the first district to recover on Tuesday after recording the highest number of evacuees for several days, followed by Kemaman on Wednesday; Hulu Terengganu, Marang, Dungun, and Kuala Terengganu on Thursday. Kuala Nerus and Setiu completed the recovery today.
During this first wave of floods, Terengganu recorded two drowning cases, confirmed by police as flood-related fatalities. -- BERNAMA