KUALA LUMPUR: Floods are expected in Kelantan, Terengganu and northern Peninsula Malaysia next month, said the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) on Wednesday (Oct 16).

The agency's announcement came as the northeast monsoon is likely to hit by the end of October and will last till March next year, based on a forecast by the Malaysian Meteorological Department.



In a statement following a central disaster management meeting in Putrajaya, NADMA cautioned that the level of floods is forecast to be almost on par with the floods in 2016 and 2017.



Floods are also expected in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and east Johor in December, while Johor, Pahang and west Sarawak might experience floods early next year, it added.

READ: Flooding in Malaysia force 23,000 to evacuate



Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who chaired the meeting, has directed all district, state and federal agencies to ensure adequate human resources, assets, temporary relief centres, depots, front bases and support supplies.

In anticipation of the floods, NADMA said annual leave applications by personnel involved in disaster management would be frozen from November till February next year.



This would affect the police, army, fire and rescue department, civil defence force, etc.



More than 80,000 officers and personnel from various agencies were prepared for the floods, it added.



For the monsoon season this time, the government has allocated RM4 million (US$950,000) from the National Disaster Relief Trust Fund for disaster operations expenditure, and RM100,000 would be distributed to every agency involved.



Meanwhile, the Social Welfare Department would prepare 5,482 flood relief centres to accommodate more than 1.6 million victims.

