Daily Times

Nearly 120,000 people have been displaced after floods submerged a vast swathe of southeastern Myanmar, killing 11 people and sending panicked residents fleeing for dry ground with children perched on their shoulders and few belongings in tow.

An official told AFP Tuesday over 118,000 people have taken refuge in 285 camps so far, as the toll climbed to 11 dead — including three solders — with more deaths feared.

Swirling, muddy waters reached thatched-roofed homes and wiped out farmland in four provinces as officials scrambled to set up rescue centres amid continued torrential rains on Tuesday.

Rescuers in boats tried to pluck people from floodwaters in Hpa-an in Karen state while other residents tried to escape by any means possible, balancing on makeshift rafts or wading out carrying children and plastic bags of goods.

Published in Daily Times, August 1^st 2018.