YANGON — Nearly 400 houses were damaged in Yangon’s Shwepyithar Township by storm winds during the early hours of Tuesday.
“This is just an estimate; we will make a list,” Shwepyithar lawmaker U Yan Aung Min told The Irrawaddy, adding that a team of department officials and lawmakers has been formed to compile the list of damaged houses.
“Those whose houses were completely damaged are staying at monasteries. And a relief camp has been opened in the religious hall in Ward 20, but nobody has come yet,” the lawmaker said.
There were no deaths, but a 57-year-old man suffered a broken leg when a tree fell on his house and sent to Insein Hospital for treatment. A 53-year-old woman was also slightly injured when a wooden beam inside her house fell on her head.
The strong winds swept through six wards, damaging houses, trees and lamp posts. Residents of Ward 20 said they were hit hardest.
One resident, Ma Myat Noe Thu, said 53 houses collapsed and another 175 houses had their roofs partly blown away.
U Yan Aung Min said the Yangon municipality, Yangon City Electricity Supply Corporation, Red Cross Society and firefighters all helped to clear away debris.
The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology announced on Tuesday evening that a depression in the Bay of Bengal had made landfall in Myanmar and that isolated heavy rains and strong winds, bringing with them landslides and flash floods, were expected in many areas across the country until Thursday.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
