Myanmar’s flood death toll rises to 226 with scores missing

Read RFA coverage of this story in Burmese.

Flooding caused by the remnants of Typhoon Yagi across Myanmar has killed 226 people with 77 missing, the military-backed Myanmar Alin newspaper reported on Tuesday, though some community workers fear the toll will be higher.

The heavy rain that began across the strife-torn country early last week forced rivers over their banks and triggered deadly flash floods and runoffs. As of Monday, more than 630,000 people were believed to be affected, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or UNOCHA.

At least 56 townships in Kayah, Kayin, Mon and Shan states, and the central Bago and Mandalay regions, as well as the Ayeyarwady delta region and the capital Naypyidaw, were hit by severe floods, media reported.

The fooding destroyed more than 2,000 houses, more than 1,000 schools, nearly 370 religious buildings, and more than 640,000 acres of farm lands, media cited military authorities as saying.

Members of social activist groups said they believed the death toll could be much higher than the reported 226, with many areas cut off from help and many hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting between anti-junta forces and the military particularly vulnerable.

As many as 200 people were believed to be missing across the country, aid workers said.

In Kayah state in the east, on the border with Thailand, camps for the displaced had been hit by both flooding and landslides down steep slopes, said an official from the Karenni National Women’s Organization.

‘’The oldest camps and the most long-term residents … were submerged when Pon creek began to rise. Tents and the food storage were flooded,” said the social worker, who declined to be identified for safety reasons.

“Crops growing nearby were also damaged.”

Flood victims in Taungoo District, Bago region, being evacuated on Sept. 14, 2024. (Myanmar Fire Services Department.)

‘Fourth day’

More than 30,000 people displaced by fighting across Kayah and Shan states were in urgent need of food, shelter and clothing, said aid workers, adding that moving people out of flood zones was a huge problem.

Twenty-four people, including 18 medical personnel training with an ethnic minority guerrilla force were killed last week in Kayah state when a flash flood swept down a mountain, relief workers, adding that many were missing.

RFA tried to telephone Kayah state’s junta spokesperson, Zar Ni Maung, to ask about the situation there but he did not answer his phone.

People displaced by fighting in Kayah state impacted by flooding on Sept. 15, 2024. (Photo Karenni National Women’s Organization.)

In central Myanmar, rescuers were struggling to get help to 30 flooded villages along the banks of overflowing Sittaung River in the Bago region, social workers said.

Many people were evacuated and have been sheltering in neighboring villages since Saturday, said one resident, who declined to be named in order to speak freely to independent media.

“Today is the fourth day, all the houses’ ground floors were flooded,” she said. “Some people moved to monasteries or high-rise houses. No casualties have been reported but we’re having problems with finding food and drinking water.”

No heavy rain was expected over the worst-hit areas, at least for the next day or so, the military’s weather office said, but Myanmar’s rainy season is due to last for several more weeks.

Yagi, Asia’s worst storm of the year, ripped across Vietnam, northern Thailand and Laos after hitting the Philippines and China’s Hainan island early this month.

Almost 300 people were killed in Vietnam, 42 in Thailand, 21 in the Philippines and four in Laos, according to the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance, as cited by the AP news agency.