PASIR MAS: The first wave of floods, which wreaked havoc in several states, has claimed 12 lives, with five fatalities reported in Kelantan, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said.
Ayob also said the flood situation in the country continues to show improvement, with the number of evacuees steadily declining today.
The same trend, he said, was observed in Kelantan, with only 240 people still housed at flood evacuation centres in the state as of noon.
"Today was part of my two-day visit to Kelantan to check on the situation here, particularly at the police stations that were badly affected by the floods.
"Apart from that, I also wanted to assess the preparations made by the state police in facing the second wave of floods.
"I was informed that Kelantan police have already made preparations to face the next wave, including at their main operations base at the General Operations Force's tactical base," he said after visiting the flood disaster operations control post at Repek police station today.
Ayob said the police's flood tactical bases in other flood-affected states would also remain active as part of preparations for the second wave of floods.
"The Disaster Response Team (DRT) which was active during the first wave, will continue to be used in the event of another round of floods.
"The DRT will be used by Kelantan's police in its flood rescue operations," he added.
On other matters, Ayob said the Senoi Praaq units would start their duty manning the Kelantan-Thailand border on Jan 1, next year.
It is learnt that two Senoi Praaq teams would be deployed to Kelantan and they were from the Three and Eight Battalions based in Perak.