Many areas in lower Burma, including Rangoon, will experience heavy rains and flooding in the week ahead due to the seasonal monsoon, according to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

The department’s deputy-director, Kyaw Lwin Oo, said the formation of low pressure zones in the Bay of Bengal will bring heavy rainstorms to Burma’s coastal regions – Rangoon, Irrawaddy and Tenasserim divisions, and Arakan, Mon and Karen states – in the next few days.

“Until now, the country has not experienced extraordinary rainfall this year. But usually the monsoon gets stronger around the second and third weeks of July, fuelled by westerly tropical storms,” he said.

The office predicted the monsoon will weaken around 23 July, followed by a succession of low pressure zones in the following days.

Rainstorms throughout July caused flooding in several areas including the Arakanese beach resort of Sandoway, officially known as Thandwe.

A family of seven, including three children, were killed in a landslide caused by heavy rain in the Shan border town Tachilek on 13 July.

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