Three people have drowned and thousands of others been forced to evacuate after flash floods triggered by heavy rain in three northern states, officials and reports said today.

Floods submerged several villages in Perak, Kedah and Penang, with two children aged nine and 12 drowning in the resort island of Langkawi and a 14-year-old in a village in Kedah, Bernama news agency said.

More than 13,800 people were at flood evacuation centres in Kedah as flood waters continued to rise in several areas, Bernama said.

The flooding forced some 1,100 students sitting for a major government examination in the state's centre of Alor Star to spend the night at their schools, The Star newspaper reported.

In Penang, some 8,550 people from Seberang Prai district were evacuated after heavy rain that had fallen since Thursday, and officials said more were expected to be moved to relief centers, the Malay Mail newspaper said.

Rain to continue

Some 1,500 people in three districts in Perak - Kerian, Selama and Taiping - spent a third night at flood relief centres and the floods showed no sign of receding, Perak public order chief Hamza Taib said.

The water was more than one metre deep in some areas, he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Hamza said relief operations were continuing and the welfare department was supplying the victims with food and other necessities.

More rain are expected in the three statestoday, an official with the Meteorological Services department said. - AFP