More than 60,000 people had to be brought to safety in emergency shelters before the floods, it said, citing the authorities. There are dozens of missing and dead people. Exact figures were initially not available. On Monday afternoon (local time) alone, more than a dozen bodies were recovered in various parts of the country, according to the rescue services.
Numerous cars were washed away and entire houses were swept away by the masses of water. The situation was particularly dire in the Selangor region on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. There had previously never been recorded amounts of rain. Kuala Lumpur is surrounded by the Selangor region. The armed forces were deployed together with around 7,000 police officers and the fire brigade to rescue residents and distribute aid deliveries.
Dozens of streets had to be closed. 450 drivers were stranded on a highway that runs from Kuala Lumpur to the city of Karak. They had to be brought to safety by boat. In the monsoon season between October and March Malaysia has frequent heavy downpours and thunderstorms.