YANGON – Floods in northern Myanmar have trapped thousands of people in their homes and disrupted electricity and phone lines, residents and local media reported on July 2. The state weather office has issued warnings of more heavy rain to come.
Continuous heavy rain in Myitkyina, a city in northern Kachin state, caused the Ayeyarwady River to rise above its “danger level,” according to state media. Images on local media depicted inundated buildings and residents wading through neck-high water, carrying their belongings overhead.
“Water has been rising very quickly. Many residents are still stuck in their houses,” one Myitkyina resident told AFP, adding that electricity and phone networks had been down since June 30. “There has been a fuel shortage in town and rescuers are facing a lot of difficulties reaching people by motor boat.”
Another resident mentioned that the lower floor of her house was underwater and that she was sheltering with neighbors until rescue teams could reach them. Although the water had slightly receded by the morning of July 2, it was still raining.
Local media reported that the floodwaters had trapped thousands of people in their homes, and the state weather office warned of more heavy rain in the coming days. Downstream in the second city of Mandalay, the Ayeyarwady River could rise from 1.8m to 3m in the first 10 days of July, the weather office stated.
During the June to October rainy season, landslides pose a regular and deadly hazard for the thousands of migrant workers who travel to Kachin state to extract precious metals and minerals from its hills. In June, a landslide at a rare earth mine killed five people and left at least seven others missing, a worker at the mine and local media reported.
This deluge follows a record-setting heatwave in Myanmar, which saw temperatures reach 48°C in some areas. While the rainy season typically brings months of heavy downpours to the Southeast Asian country, scientists indicate that man-made climate change is intensifying weather patterns.