Thousands of people in northern Myanmar were left stranded on Tuesday without electricity or telephone communication following massive flooding, residents and local media reported.
The Ayeyarwady River in Kachin State in northern former Burma, exceeded the “danger level” in the city of Myitkyina, after several days of heavy rainsstate media reported.
Images broadcast by Burmese media showed flooded houses and people wading through water up to their necks, carrying their belongings on their heads, French news agency AFP reported.
“The water is rising very quickly. Many people are still trapped in their homes.”a resident of Myitkyina told AFP.
The same source said that the electricity and telephone networks have been cut off since Sunday.
“There is a shortage of fuel and rescue teams are having great difficulty in reaching people by motorboat,” he added.
Another Myitkyina resident said the lower floor of her house was under water and she had taken shelter with her neighbours while waiting for rescue teams to arrive.
The water level dropped slightly on Tuesday morning, but it continued to rain.
Flash floods trapped thousands of people in their homes and the The Burmese meteorological office has warned of the possibility of more heavy rains in the coming days..
Downstream in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, the Ayeyarwady River could rise by 1.8 to 3.0 metres in the first 10 days of July.
During the rainy season from June to October, landslides are frequent and pose a life-threatening risk to thousands of migrants who travel to Kachin State to work in precious metal mines.
A landslide at a rare earth mine in June killed five people and left at least seven missing, according to a mine worker and local media.
The flooding comes just weeks after a record heatwave.causing temperatures to rise to 48 degrees Celsius in some areas of Myanmar.
The rainy season normally brings months of torrential downpours to the Southeast Asian country, but scientists say man-made climate change is making the weather more intense.
Myanmar is living under a military dictatorship and the army is facing guerrillas of various ethnicities who have joined forces to fight the junta that overthrew the democratically elected government in 2021.
Source: Observadora
