Malaysian flood toll rises as fresh downpours predicted

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysian authorities battling floods that have killed 16 people have said they were braced for further disaster with heavy rains forecast for the weekend.

The latest victims were two Nepalese workers whose bodies were discovered on Tuesday, said Che Moin Umar, the chief of the crisis and disaster management directorate.

The pair had been standing in a river taking photographs of the devastation in southern Johor state -- the worst-hit region -- when they were swept away on Sunday, he said Wednesday.

"We have advised the public not to play in the water. It is very dangerous. Even our rescue boats with 30 horsepower engines find it very difficult to manoeuvre in this situation, so hard would it be for people," he told AFP.

Che Moin said the situation in Johor was improving, and that the number of evacuees had fallen to 26,400. The number of people sheltering in relief centres nationwide peaked at 90,000 last week.

But he said that forecasters had warned of heavy downpours starting from Friday in the northeastern states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang that from Saturday were tipped to sweep across the country's entire north.

"We are preparing for the worst situation actually. Our meteorological department is very sure we are going to have heavy downpours at the weekend," he said.

"So we hope the situation in the south can return to normal, so we can concentrate on the northern and eastern states."

Victims have blamed the flash floods, the worst in decades, on environmental degradation and poor development planning.