This is higher than for the first round of flooding which hit last month and left 18 dead.

"More people are being evacuated because the rains have not stopped and we are taking preventive measures to get them out first, before floods submerge their villages," said an officer at the centre, who declined to be named.

Rescue teams were using boats to reach remote villages, and power supplies and telecommunications have also been disrupted by the floodwaters.

Torrential rains that have battered the region for the past four days show no sign of letting up, and some 355 relief centres have been set up on higher ground to shelter the huge number of displaced people.

The Meteorological Department forecast heavy continuous rain in Johor for at least three more days, the official Bernama news agency reported Sunday.

The department issued a red alert warning for Johor and parts of central Pahang state. It is the highest of a three-stage warning system, indicating heavy downpours and floods.

Health ministry secretary-general Ismail Merican said flood victims now faced the risk of disease, particularly leptospirosis, which is spread via rat, dog and cattle urine.

The New Straits Times quoted Abdul Ghani Othman, Johor's chief minister, as saying that two flood evacuees had already died of leptospirosis.

"In flood situations things get out of control, especially when it comes to water cleanliness," Ismail told AFP.

Thousands of people were already sheltering in flood evacuation centres in Johor after the first round of flooding, which hit late December and forced 90,000 people to evacuate their homes at the peak of the crisis.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said late Friday that the government had not ruled out declaring a state of emergency in Johor if the floods worsened, adding the government would closely monitor and evaluate the situation, Bernama reported.

earlier related report
Week Of Heavy Rain Leaves 21 Dead In Philippines
Manila (AFP) Jan 13 - Floods and landslides left a total of 21 people dead in the central and southern Philippines after more than a week of heavy rain, the civil defense office said Saturday. The rain, brought on by a cold front and a tropical depression, caused landslides and rivers to overflow in the southern island of Mindanao and the central islands of Leyte and Samar, the office said in a statement.

Twenty-one people were recorded dead, nine of them due to landslides in Samar island, while the rest died largely due to flooding elsewhere.

Five other people were missing and feared dead from landslides, a capsized boat or swept away by strong waters, the office added.

Sixteen people were also injured.

About 23,000 people had to flee their homes, with more than 800 houses destroyed by landslides and floods in Samar and Mindanao, the office said.

Several roads in Mindanao remained impassable because they had either been washed away or were still covered by high floodwaters, the civil defense office said.

Financial assistance and food is being distributed to the victims of the bad weather, the office added.

Related Links
A world of storm and tempest