Some 4,000 people have been directly affected by floods in Sandoway, a coastal township in western Burma.

Residents and township administrators told DVB that the River Sandoway had overflowed, flooding the downtown area on Monday, but said that no casualties had been reported.

Township administrator Kyaw Soe Lin said that the local authorities had set up six emergency relief camps. “Only four camps are now open,” he said on Wednesday. “The other two were closed after the residents were able to return to their homes.

“The mountain streams brought the water down, but the tide has now ebbed,” he said.

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National League for Democracy district secretary Win Naing told DVB that rations were being distributed to flood victims by boat.

One Sandoway shopkeeper said that in his street the flood was about three feet high.

Sandoway has experienced flooding regularly at this time of the year as the monsoon works its way eastward across Asia. The years 2004, 2007 and 2011 were particularly severe, residents said.

Some locals blamed the recurring floods on a poor drainage system and a systematic destruction of the environment.