Malaysian rain warning triggers fears of more floods

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysia has issued its highest "red stage" rain warning for the southern state of Johor, triggering fears of a third wave of flooding after weeks of chaos caused by torrential downpours.

The Meteorological Services Department said in a statement late Wednesday that moderate to heavy rain was expected to persist until Sunday in Johor, which borders Singapore, and central Pahang state.

Residents in the flood zone, where tens of thousands were forced to shelter in evacuation centres during the crisis which has peaked twice since late December, said they were not bothering to do repairs yet in light of the warning.

"I only cleaned up the house a little because we fear the floods will come again, for the third time," 61-year-old Hassan Saadon told the official Bernama news agency.

Hassan said his family cleared up the flood damage after the first wave of floods in the closing days of 2006, only to be devastated again just two days later when bad weather returned.

State Drainage and Irrigation Department chief Chong Chee Han said river levels had already beached their danger mark.

"We never had heavy flooding twice within a month, but that too has occurred. All we can hope for is that a third wave does not happen," he told The Star newspaper.

The floods, the worst in a century, have claimed 17 lives and caused damage worth 350 million ringgit (100 million dollars) to infrastructure in the south. The private sector has reportedly estimated economic losses at 2.4 billion ringgit.

Oklahoma ice storm power outages at about 5,700

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Twelve days after an ice storm knocked down power poles and snapped transmission lines across the state, about 5,700 Oklahoma homes and businesses remained without electrical service Wednesday.

At the height of the storm, an estimated 125,000 people were without power in the state.

Most of those still without power are in remote, rural areas of far northeastern Oklahoma, where power lines are hard to get to and even harder to repair.

"We maintain thousands of miles of electrical line in rural areas," said Sid Sperry, spokesman for the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives.

"When our trucks go down the road, theyre not driving on asphalt or concrete. Theyre in pastures and fields in snow, ice or getting stuck in mud."

There are 1,200 electrical linemen working for Oklahomas 30 rural electric cooperative. Of those 1,200 linemen, 450 Oklahoma linemen are working to help restore power to customers in eastern Oklahoma, plus 1,100 linemen from other states.

State officials estimate rural electric cooperatives and the 23 eastern Oklahoma counties hit hardest by the storm received about $39 million in damage. The damage estimate was included in Gov. Brad Henrys request for federal aid.

Temperatures reached into the high 40s and low 50s under sunny skies Wednesday, melting much of the snow and ice that remained from the storm that began moving through the state on Jan. 12.

A winter storm brewing over northern Mexico was forecast to move into Oklahoma and North Texas by Friday afternoon and possibly bring rain and snow, according to the National Weather Service.

This storm, however, isn't expected to dump much precipitation and should exit the area by Saturday afternoon, forecasters said.

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