A spell of extreme weather in Rangoon’s coastal region has forced around 100 families to evacuate their houses after heavy wind and rain battered buildings over the weekend.
A man from New Dagon Seikkan township close to Rangoon’s port area told DVB that “roaring wind” hit the area on Friday, followed quickly by heavy rain and hail.
The majority of houses damaged belonged to poor day labourers, said Nyi Nyi, a National League for Democracy (NLD) member who has been providing clothing and food to those made homeless by the storm. Some of these have been moved to relief camps, while others have been forced to construct very rudimentary shelters.
Other media reports said that tornados were also seen in Rangoon, where three townships in total are thought to have been hit.
“This is going to be difficult for us as rainy season is coming up,” said one storm victim. He added that help was needed to rebuild houses, but a recent increase in the price of construction materials was likely to make life difficult.
