The Mon State government has warned outside aid groups against attempting to navigate the rising waters and strong river currents.

Some 31 villages in Kyaikmayaw Township, Mon State, continue to be flooded, affecting some 55,000 people, according to the Mon State government.

Rainfall has not let up in Kyaikmayaw, and after water levels rose on the Attayan River, more than two dozen villages in the river valley flooded, damaging or destroying the homes of 10,000 families.

Some 20,000 people had already been evacuated to 13 camps, government sources said.

“Currently, it’s difficult to go to Kyaikmayaw by car, and there aren’t enough motorboats,” Nai Ye Zaw, who lives in Kyaikmayaw, told NMG.

Of the 31 flooded villages, some are completely underwater and some sections of the vehicle road to the area is also flooded, cutting the area off from transportation, and even from receiving food rations.

The Mon State government has been preparing to provide rescue materials to villagers along the Attayan River, through the use of a barge. They have requested that donors across the country not venture into Kyaikmayaw because of the rising water levels and strong currents.

Kyaikmayaw parliamentarian Min Aung Mon said that while the township typically experiences flooding, this is worse than other years.

The Mon state government, civil society organizations, evacuation teams, volunteer groups and private donors across the country have provided assistance to flood victims in Mon State.

The state has experienced flooding since the first week of August due to unusually heavy rainfall. Seventy people died, and hundreds of thousands of people were affected, with Ye and Kyaikmayaw facing the worst impacts.

More than 1.2 billion kyat (more than US$790,000) worth of property has been destroyed in less than a week following heavy rainfall in Mon State, the state government reported.