On Thursday, tens of thousands of Myanmar residents were forced to flee severe flooding caused by Typhoon Yagi, with many carrying children on their backs or rowing elderly individuals on makeshift rafts through rising waters. The deadly typhoon, which hit Vietnam over the weekend, has brought torrential rain to conflict-ridden Myanmar, resulting in widespread infrastructure damage and deadly landslides across the region.
The floods have caused rivers in Myanmar to exceed their danger levels, cutting off communications and displacing more than 53,000 people, according to authorities. Approximately 600 people were sheltering in a school building after evacuating their homes near the surging Sittaung river in Taungoo town, about 220 km from Yangon, local rescuers told AFP. "It's worse this time. It's nothing like before," said a 76-year-old woman at the school who did not wish to disclose her name. "The water came halfway up our house." "We left some stuff behind. I don't think about it anymore. We got here to save ourselves. We brought some pots and pans with us. The rest we left on the bar under the roof. I don't care if they survive the water or not."
Myanmar's fire service reported that 17 bodies had been recovered from flooded villages in the Mandalay region since Wednesday. Separately, a rescue team found the body of a deceased woman near the military-built capital Naypyidaw, according to one of its volunteers. "The whole village was submerged and people had stayed on the roofs of their houses and in trees the whole day and night," he said, requesting anonymity to speak with the media.
Junta authorities had not yet released any "casualty or damage figures," said Lay Shwe Zin Oo, director of social welfare, relief, and resettlement ministry. Authorities had opened "around 50 camps for some 70,000 flood victims" expected near Naypyidaw, Bago region, and in Kayah, Mon, and Shan states, she added. Emergency workers were also using boats to evacuate stranded villagers in various towns. Some families loaded their belongings and children onto rescue boats, where they sat under plastic sheets, while others carried children on their backs or rowed elderly people through the water on makeshift rafts made of tires and wooden pallets.
"The water has risen so quickly," another woman at the school told AFP. "Around 300 feet (90 metres) from the school it's at head height," she said. More than 3.3 million people in Myanmar are currently displaced, according to the United Nations, with most of them forced to flee their homes due to conflict following the military's coup in 2021. Over 200 people have been killed in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand by floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Yagi. The rainy season typically brings months of heavy downpour to Southeast Asia, but scientists warn that man-made climate change is intensifying weather patterns.
As the rain continued to pour down at the school near Taungoo, rescuers distributed dried noodles to a line of people. "I am going straight home the moment the water level drops," the 76-year-old woman said. "When the water reaches up to my waist, I will go home."
