The latest victim was a elderly man in Kota Marudu town in northern Sabah, where intermittent rain fell over the weekend, said Malaysia's crisis and disaster management chief.

Che Moin Umar said conditions were expected to worsen in the coming days, with heavy rains forecast over the country's northern states.

"It will deteriorate ... I cannot say much whether it will be like Malacca and Johor," Che Moin told AFP, referring to two southern states worst hit by Malaysia's flood crisis so far.

"We are preparing for the worst-case scenario," he added.

The meteorological department yesterday issued its highest "red stage" warning for heavy rains in the northern states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, and central Pahang state until Wednesday.

Moderate rain will also continue in Sabah into the week, it said.

Che Moin said authorities had evacuated more than 150 people in Kelantan and Terengganu after rains on Saturday night sparked flooding.

Some 200 people were also evacuated over the weekend from the town of Beaufort in Sabah, he said.

Conditions are easing in Johor, which has seen 15 of the 17 fatalities, although 16,455 people evacuated from the floods were still sheltering in relief centres on Sunday, said Malaysia's Bernama news agency.

The number of people sheltering in relief centres nationwide peaked at 90,000 in the last week of December.

Johor authorities said Sunday that it would cost some 60 million ringgit (17.08 million dollars) to repair flood-damaged infrastructure such as bridges, Bernama reported, as Health Minister Chua Soi Lek warned of dengue outbreaks.