Kyaukphyu Twsp village flooded due to trash-clogged creek

By DMG 09 Jun 2022

DMG Newsroom
9 June 2022,  Kyaukphyu  

Locals from Yaynan Dwein village in Kyaukphyu Township say the village faces annual flooding because a creek that flows through the village gets shallower year after year. 

Out of about 250 households in the village, some 200 were inundated due to heavy rainfall on Tuesday. An estimated six tonnes of rice, as well as many household items, were damaged by the floodwaters, said villager Daw Thaungma. 

“It started to rain around 2 a.m. that day. By the evening, the floodwaters had reached five feet above the ground. I have never seen it like this before. All the rice and paddy were inundated, and electric stoves were damaged,” she said. 

The creek flows through the middle of Yaynan Dwein village and is about 15 feet wide. Water flows down from the surrounding mountains and into the creek before emptying into a river.  

Local U Soe Min Naing has called on authorities to dredge the creek, while saying that villagers themselves are responsible for the flooding. 

“The creek has been seriously clogged by garbage dumped by the villagers. So, the rainwater can’t flow, and it floods the village. The creek will not flood if it is dredged properly,” he said. 

Some pigs died in the flood, and the lake that supplies drinking water for local villagers was also contaminated by the floodwaters. 

“We are examining what we need to do to the creek,” said the Kyaukphyu Township administrator, U Myo Min Tun. “Then we will calculate costs and submit them to upper-level authorities.” 

Local villagers are concerned that they will face more severe flooding in the months to come, when heavier rainfall is expected. 

Annual floods in Arakan State damage farmlands and property, with the 2015 monsoon season proving to be particularly devastating.