Schools have been closed and nearly 900 people have been evacuated from a town in southern Kayin (Karen) State due to severe flooding, according to a local administrator.
“Kwin Gyi Stream, Kyate Stream, and Haung Tharaw River have flooded. The water level rose to around four feet in Kyaikdon due to the overflowing water from the mountain on July 26th,” said U Myo Aung, Kya-in Seikkyi Township Administrator. “We haven’t received a report about damaged crops and other damages.”
The 870 evacuees were relocated to three flood relief centers in Kyaikdon and one flood relief center on Kyauk Phyu Mountain in Mi Tan Village.
U Myo Aung said local authorities have been providing necessary assistance to the flood victims.
U Indobhasa from Ywar Oo Monastery in Min Tan Village said the flood water extended up to 16 feet, or five meters at the highest point.
“There has been flooding here for two days. The monastery flooded and the flood water rose to around five meters high in the Kyar Ma Naing area,” he said. “The villagers are facing difficulties because they don’t have boats for travelling. Their farms have been flooded as well.”
Saw Shar Phaung Awar, the Amyotha Hluttaw MP for Kya-in Seikkyi township, said the road at the entrance of Kyaikdon has been made nearly impassable due to the flooding.
Heavy rain inundated Kya-in Seikkyi township from July 25 to 28, according to Kyainseikgyi Township Education Officer Daw Khin Hnin Mu. In response to the difficult conditions, twenty-four schools, including those in Kyaikdon, have been temporarily closed Road access in the township has been severely limited after two temporary suspension bridges washed away on July 26 along the route connecting Kya-in Seikkjyi to Payathonzu and the Three Pagodas Pass at the Thai-Myanmar border.
As of July 21, more than 91,000 people across 29 townships in Magwe, Sagaing, Bago and Ayeyarwady regions, as well as in Kayin State, have been displaced or evacuated due to flooding that began earlier in the month, according to the Relief and Resettlement Department.
