Severe flooding in Johor has forced more than 90,000 people to flee their homes, weeks after the state was struck by similar floods.

The new figures are more than double the 20,051 evacuees reported late Friday, as a second wave of flooding struck the region.

"It is a lot more today because the rain has not stopped and the volume is also quite high," Che Moin Umar, chief of the Crisis and Disaster Management Directorate told AFP yesterday.

"According to weather reports we expect more rain and more evacuations to take place over the next two days, until Monday."

Hundreds of people were already sheltering in flood evacuation centres in Johor after the first round of flooding had hit late last month, forcing 90,000 to evacuate their homes at the peak of the crisis.

Since then, rains have hit the country's north as well as Sabah and Sarawak.

Villages cut off

The state opened 333 flood relief centers on high ground to provide shelter to thousands of families evacuated from their homes, he said.

On the outskirts of Ayer Hitam in Johor, water levels had inundated large stretches of roads, cutting off smaller villages from towns.

"Many people here had only just returned from the last round of floods and now they have to pack up and leave again," said Muhamad Rubae, a local resident.

"Some of them have not even returned since December," said Muhamad.

"I just went back for four days and now I have to return here. How are we to cope with this," said one middle-aged woman who was at a relief centre.

The meteorology department said heavy rains would continue in Johor and three other states until Monday. Heavy rain is also expected over the weekend in Sabah and Sarawak.

The floods - the worst in decades - have claimed 18 lives so far, with the latest casualty a young boy who drowned in Sabah last weekend.