Six people have died and 60,000 homes have been evacuated in southern Malaysia in the worst flooding in living memory.

But unofficial reports suggest the number of dead may be much higher, the CBC's Jonathan Kent reported Friday.

Days of heavy rains have burst river banks, isolated many communities and made helicopters and boats the only way of delivering relief supplies.

The government's Meteorological Department issued a warning that there will be heavy monsoon rains until Sunday.

Malaysia's southernmost state, Johor, has been the hardest hit, with 50,000 of the 60,000 evacuees, the government's website said. People are being housed in 300 flood-relief centres.

All six of the dead were in Johor. The website describes how a truck driver saw two people in a car being swept away.

The bodies were later recovered but "we could not launch a rescue operation earlier as the current was too swift," Fire and Rescue Department operations commander Hazmi Ali said.