Dozens of villages flooded in Kyauktaw, Minbya townships

By Admin 07 Aug 2023

DMG Newsroom
7 August 2023, Kyauktaw
 
At least 50 villages in Kyauktaw and Minbya townships in Arakan State are flooded due to heavy rainfall, according to locals.
 
At least 30 villages in Kyauktaw Township have been flooded by swollen tributaries of the Kaladan River.
 
“Streets and houses as well as the market and farms have been flooded since yesterday. In some places, the water level has reached six feet high,” U Zaw Myo Chit, a resident of Thayettapin village, told DMG on Sunday.
 
Around 500 people from the Nyaungchaung displacement camp have also been evacuated to the monastery and houses in the village.
 
“As we are dependent on forests for our livelihoods, we will run out of food if it continues to rain,” said administrator U Than Aye of Nyaungchaung village on Sunday.

 
The water level has also risen in the Lemyo River in Minbya Township, where more than 20 villages have been flooded.
 
The administrator of Shwekyin village, U Nyo Maung, told DMG on Sunday: “Half of the village has been inundated. But we can still live in our houses. Paddy fields are also flooded. We may have to move if floodwaters rise further.”
 
Local farmers are concerned that their paddy fields will be damaged by floodwaters.
 
The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology has warned that water levels in the Kaladan and Lemyo rivers may continue to rise. Monsoon is strong in the Bay of Bengal with isolated rains expected in parts of Arakan State, the department said.