A girl looks out from a tuk-tuk while evacuating from Sittwe in Myanmar's Rakhine state
AFP

KEY POINTS

  • Residents fled to higher ground as water flooded their homes
  • Roads were inundated and water levels rose to about six feet in some areas
  • Weather forecasters warned of more rain or thundershowers Tuesday

Thousands of people have been affected by the flooding caused due to heavy rains in parts of Myanmar.

Over 14,000 people were displaced in Myanmar's southern areas after heavy rains wreaked havoc Sunday, officials said Monday. Residents fled to higher ground and many had to find shelter in relief camps as the water entered their homes and inundated roads.

Weather forecasters warned residents of more rain or thundershowers on Tuesday.

Bago township, one of the worst-affected areas in the country, saw a record level of rainfall in nearly 60 years Sunday. The region received 7.87 inches of rain, according to Myanmar's Meteorological Department.

"Almost the whole area of the town was flooded," Thant Zin Maung, chairman of the Mizzima Thukha Charity Foundation, told AP News on Monday. "It is the third flood in the town this year and the worst in many years. All the monasteries in the town have opened relief camps. Charity organizations are evacuating people from low-lying areas as much as they can."

A 55-year-old woman, who wanted to remain anonymous due to the tight control of Myanmar's military government, said her neighborhood in Bago's Pan Hlaing ward saw water level rise to about six feet.

She added the neighborhood had never flooded this badly before.

"Most of my belongings are ruined as they are floating in the water in my house," Aye Kyi Ma, a 47-year-old resident of Bago, told AFP.

"Now, I have to stay somewhere else," the woman said from a boat in a flooded street, adding, "there is no electricity and the water is not clean. So we have to buy our meal as we can't cook."

"In some places, the tide is as deep as a person's height," Aung Phyo Kyaw, a member of a local rescue team in Bago, told the outlet.

Myanmar has been experiencing extreme weather conditions this monsoon season. Parts of the country have seen flooding in July and August as well. Five people, including four children, were killed and about 60,000 were displaced due to the downpour since mid-July, an official said in August.

Climate