residents of south Kale find themselves almost completely cut off from the main town
Residents of south Kale prepare to cross a river to reach town. The return trip takes an entire day for what was once a 20 minute drive. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|In the aftermath of severe flooding
forced to wade through still flooded areas for essential goods. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|Rice farmer Tin Aung surveys what remains of his 10 acres of rice paddy in Chin Sone village on the outskirts of Kale. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|Cattle stranded by floodwaters forage for low hanging leaves in the absence of any grazing land. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|Many residents of Kyar In village return home to find houses and possessions coated in dried mud. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|A woman and her child look over an unfamiliar landscape around her home near the village of Kyar In. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|A young girl tries to help her family remove debris from paddy fields in south Kale. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|In the late evening light
two farmers cross a flooded riverbed to reach the town of Kale in northwestern Sagaing Division. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|The Kalay hospital lost its entire pharmaceutical supply when its storage facility was inundated by flood waters. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|As the sun dries mud-coated streets
young relief workers in central Kale wear face masks to avoid potential respiratory illnesses. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|Burma Army soldiers assist with the unloading of an Indian Air Force Hercules aircraft
which made a three-and-a-half hour flight direct from New Delhi to deliver 10 tons of relief supplies on Aug. 6
2015. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|The Kale-Gangaw rail line has been severely damaged and will remain out of service for many months to come. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|One of many houses left surrounded by a sea of mud in the south Kale village of Kyar In. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)|Residents of the severely flooded Kyar In village use the road to dry and salvage what they can of flooded rice grain
much of which will be used as pig feed because it is no longer fit for human consumption. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)| Enterprising young men earn money as porters between flooded villages and the main town of Kale in the aftermath of the floods. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)| Young men earn money as porters between flooded villages and the main town of Kale
ferrying essential goods and motorbikes across flooded streams. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)
As the sun dries mud-coated streets, young relief workers in central Kale wear face masks to avoid potential respiratory illnesses. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)
Burma Army soldiers assist with the unloading of an Indian Air Force Hercules aircraft, which made a three-and-a-half hour flight direct from New Delhi to deliver 10 tons of relief supplies on Aug. 6, 2015. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)
The Kale-Gangaw rail line has been severely damaged and will remain out of service for many months to come. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)
One of many houses left surrounded by a sea of mud in the south Kale village of Kyar In. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)
Residents of the severely flooded Kyar In village use the road to dry and salvage what they can of flooded rice grain, much of which will be used as pig feed because it is no longer fit for human consumption. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)
Enterprising young men earn money as porters between flooded villages and the main town of Kale in the aftermath of the floods. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)
Young men earn money as porters between flooded villages and the main town of Kale, ferrying essential goods and motorbikes across flooded streams. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)
KALE TOWNSHIP, Sagaing Division — The real work of recovery is just beginning in inundated Kale, a township in the far northwest of Sagaing Division.
A number villages in the unlucky region are likely to remain almost completely isolated for some time, as recent flooding has surrounded some areas with water and left others unreachable due to damaged roads.
Yele Oo, Kyar In and Chin Sone villages looked to be among the hardest hit when The Irrawaddy visited late last week. Rivers and streams swelled up as the region was pounded by rain in recent weeks, ploughing entirely new routes through homes and paddy fields.
Agricultural lands—where they are not still underwater—remain buried beneath felled trees and polluted mud. The Kale Township Hospital, the ground floor of which was completely flooded by the initial downpour, now reeks of disinfectant as a small army of student volunteers scrubs it clean.
It will likely take at least another week for the much needed facility to be back up and running at even close to its usual pace, though much has been lost for good. The hospital’s pharmaceutical storage rooms were buried in deep and filthy mud, resulting in a severe shortage of medical supplies. In the interim, those patients in urgent need of care are being treated at a nearby military hospital.
For the residents of south Kale, what used to be a 20 minute commute into town is now a day-long trek across bloated streams and acres of difficult, damaged terrain. In the city, as the streets begin to dry, choking clouds of contaminated dust fill the air.
In village after village, we found there was little to no clean water, while sickness and skin infections were starting to grip many of the essentially stranded villagers. Making matters worse, stagnant pools of flood water are ripe to become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, posing risks of malaria, dengue and other illness in the weeks to come.
The rail link between Kale and Gangaw appeared destroyed, while the roads in and out of the town are in little better shape. In some places, the defunct railroad has become the de facto crossing point for overflowing rivers, as locals risk perilous crossings on precarious iron railway tracks, left dangling over the water after their wooden supports had been washed away.
An effective governmental response was not evident in the areas visited by The Irrawaddy. Rather, we observed villagers doing whatever they could to get by in these dire circumstances—unaided and severely under resourced—to bring some sense of normalcy back into their disrupted lives.
