He said this would also depend on the weather conditions.

Raven said the Johor drainage and irrigation department had started pumping out water that had stayed stagnant at several locations around Batu Pahat a few days ago.

“Another 21 pumps will be brought in from other places to Batu Pahat. These water pumps will be used only if the water level in the river is lower than the stagnant water,” he said after inspecting the operation to install additional water pumps in Kuala Senggarang today.

Raven said clean-up work was being undertaken by the authorities and NGOs in several areas, such as Segamat.

Johor DID director Azren Khalil said 46 mobile pumps, with a pumping capacity of five to 20 cubic feet per second had been installed in seven districts over the past few days.

Fourteen pumps were installed in Tangkak, 12 in Batu Pahat, six each in Johor Bahru and Pontian, four in Mersing, three in Muar and one in Kota Tinggi.

“The water pumps are installed to support the sluice gates to speed up the flow of floodwaters to the sea or the main river,” he said.

As of 4pm, the state disaster management committee said 43,793 victims were housed in flood relief centres in Johor, with the highest number (39,919) being in Batu Pahat.