The rise in sea level, apart from occasional heavy rain, is among factors for the floods in the Pasir Puteh district.

Director of the Kemasin-Semerak Integrated Agricultural Development Area Nik Mahadi Nik Abdullah said the reading at the tidal gate in Kampong Gong Kulim here showed that the sea level and land was at 2.3 metre at 10.50 am today.

"This slowed down the flow of from Pasir Puteh through the Semerak Channel to the South China Sea," he said when contacted by Bernama here today.

However, he said the reading at the tidal gate in Kampung Lembah, about three kilometres from Kampung Gong Kulim, showed that the sea level was at 0.6 metre, with land at 2.3 metres.

This facilitates the flow of water to the sea, he added.

-- BERNAMA