Thousands flee flood
SURROUNDING VILLAGES EVACUATED, HIGHWAY BLOCKED
More than 5 000 people have evacuated their homes after water from a breached dam flooded communities in central Myanmar yesterday and blocked part of a highway linking the main cities of Yangon, Mandalay and the capital Naypyitaw.
The Myanmar Fire Services Department dispatched a fire brigade to the Swar irrigation dam after it breached, sending water into the nearby town of Swar and two villages.
“Over 5 400 people have moved to monasteries and safe areas in Yedashe township,” said Chan Nyein Thu, staff officer at the regional department of disaster management.
More than 1 500 people were sheltering in unaffected Thagaya town, said an administrator there, Aung Hla Min.
Another 1 500 evacuees from at least four different villages near the dam were staying at a Buddhist monastery nearby, said Yedashe firefighter Kaung Myat Thiha.
Photos posted on Facebook showed Myanmar soldiers evacuating people on makeshift bamboo rafts and kayaks, and carrying children and the elderly through knee-deep floodwaters.
Mya Min, 67, said water had stopped flowing out of the breached dam. “You can see there is only one-third of the normal amount of water left in the dam.”
Fire officials closed a bridge on the Yangon-Mandalay highway bridge over the Swar creek. –