YANGON, Sept 15 — The death toll in Myanmar in the wake of Typhoon Yagi has jumped to 74, state media reported today.
As of Friday evening the floods had “resulted in 74 deaths and 89 people missing” in Myanmar, the Global New Light of Myanmar said.
According to official figures floods and landslides have killed almost 350 people in Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand in the wake of Typhoon Yagi, which hit the region last weekend.
Search and rescue operations were ongoing, it said, adding that the floods had destroyed more than 65,000 houses and five dams.
The junta’s previous death toll was 33, with more than 235,000 people displaced, according to figures released on Friday.
Swathes of farmland have been inundated in central regions, including around the sprawling, low-lying capital Naypyidaw.
There have been reports of landslides in hilly areas but with roads and bridges damaged and phone and internet lines down, compiling information has been difficult.
The floods have heaped more misery on the country where war has raged since the military seized power in 2021.
More than 2.7 million people were already displaced in Myanmar by the conflict.
Myanmar’s junta chief made a rare request for foreign aid to deal with the floods, state media reported yesterday.
The military has previously blocked or frustrated humanitarian assistance from abroad.
Last year it suspended travel authorisations for aid groups trying to reach around a million victims of powerful Cyclone Mocha that hit the west of the country. — AFP
