Sustained heavy rainfall leaves Yangon inundated, traffic chaos ensues

By DMG 17 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
17 August 2022, Yangon 

Many townships in the commercial capital Yangon were flooded by torrential rains that began just after midnight on Wednesday and lasted for hours. 

Floodwaters were reported in Tamwe, Mingalar Taungnyunt, Pansodan, Thaketa, North Dagon, South Dagon, Thingangyun, Hlaing Tharyar, Bahan, North Okkalapa, South Okkalapa and Mayangone townships, covering a large swath of Myanmar’s largest city. 

“It rained the whole night, and it is still raining. Some houses including mine saw their ground floor flooded by rainwater, said a Mingalar Taungnyunt resident. 

Light rain continued into the noon hour on Wednesday, with houses flooded in low-lying wards of Hlaing Tharyar, Shwepyithar, Hlaing and Kamayut townships. 

“In some wards, floodwaters reached waist-high. Residents have had to wade through waist-high floodwaters,” said a Kamayut Township resident. 

Major thoroughfares were submerged, snarling traffic in a city already known for its congestion on the sunniest of days. 

“Roads were submerged at Waizayanda Road in South Okkalapa and Thamine Junction. Low-suspension cars could not drive, so there was traffic chaos,” said a taxi driver. 

According to meteorologists, the heavy rain was caused by upper air cyclonic circulation. 

“It arrived in [the Mon State capital] Mawlamyine around 2 a.m. It will reach the eastern Bay of Bengal near Thandwe on August 18,” said meteorologist U Win Naing. 

The weather system has the potential to develop into a depression, resulting in squalls along the coast of Arakan State, in the Ayeyarwady Delta and along the coast of Tanintharyi Region on August 19 and 20, according to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.