More than 100 people have died in floods and mudslides caused by the remnants of Typhoon Yagi in Myanmar.
The country’s junta spokesman, Zaw Min Tun, said in a statement on Sunday that 113 people had been killed and another 64 were missing. However, regional reports suggested the true death toll could be higher.
Meanwhile, more than 320,000 people have been forcibly evacuated to temporary shelters, according to the AFP news agency.
Yagi, the most powerful storm to hit Asia this year, has already caused devastating damage as it tore through Vietnam, Laos, China’s Hainan Island and the Philippines.
At least 287 people are believed to have been killed by the storm before it reached Myanmar.
Although the typhoon has weakened to a tropical depression since making landfall in northern Vietnam, it is still causing deadly landslides in Southeast Asia.
In Myanmar, state media reported that nearly 66,000 homes had been destroyed as of Friday evening, along with 375 schools and a monastery. Several kilometers of roads and other infrastructure had been washed away.
On Friday, more than 236,000 people were still being housed in 187 refugee camps.
The impact of the heavy rainfall was concentrated mainly in the states of Kayah, Kayin, Mandalay, Mon and Shan, which cover central Myanmar.
According to some, the death toll is already much higher than official estimates.
Radio Free Asia, a US-backed broadcaster, reported that at least 160 people had been killed in Myanmar. Social media accounts loyal to the ruling junta said that 230 people had been killed in the Mandalay region alone.
Japan’s state broadcaster NHK reported that more than 120 people had died on Saturday.
At least 12 people, one of whom was eight years old, were killed on Saturday in Kalaw, a mountain town in Shan State, private news website Eleven Myanmar reported.
A man told AFP how he tried to rescue people with ropes on September 10 as water rose 4 metres high over the city.
“I saw families in the distance locked on the roofs of their houses,” he said.
“I heard there were 40 bodies in the hospital.”
A woman who runs a business in Kalaw claimed her staff had said 60 people had been killed in the town, AFP reported.
Myanmar has been in the grip of a three-year civil war since a military junta seized power in 2021. The UN estimates that thousands of people have been killed and 2.6 million displaced by the conflict.
Several armed insurgent groups are also active in Shan State, some of which have de facto control over parts of the territory.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Information said relief and health workers have been deployed to flood-affected areas and funds have been released for food and drinking water for evacuees.
According to state media, emergency services have also started repairing damaged roads and bridges.
Scientists say typhoons and hurricanes are becoming stronger and more frequent due to climate change. Warmer ocean waters are causing storms to pick up more energy, leading to higher wind speeds.
A warmer atmosphere can also hold more moisture, which can lead to heavier rainfall.
Yagi is expected to move away from Myanmar in the coming days. Another tropical depression is forecast to form in the western Pacific in the coming week.
