Flood death toll rises to 8, 430,000 displaced

Widespread flooding has left at least eight people dead and forced more than 430,000 to flee their homes, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement said last week, media reports said.

Torrential rain throughout much of Myanmar since July 30 has caused flooding along the country’s three main rivers, including the Ayeyarwady.

“Magway and Ayeyarwady regions are the worst-hit this year,” the ministry’s permanent secretary, U Soe Aung, told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency on August 13.

More than half of those displaced were from the two regions, he said.

State media said 19 townships in low-lying Ayeyarwady Region had been affected by flooding, displacing more than 120,000 people.

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As flood waters recede in some regions, the danger has shifted to southern parts of the country.

“The low-lying areas in lower Myanmar are still facing severe floods,” Soe Aung told the newsagency.

Widespread flooding last year left almost 100 people dead and displaced about one million.

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