As water levels in Pegu Division slowly subside, thousands of locals are returning home from relief centres while schools in the area began reopening on Monday.

The townships of Pegu, Thanatpin and Kawa were inundated with severe seasonal floods beginning on 3 August, forcing more than 10,000 residents to evacuate their homes and seek shelter in nearby relief centres.

Khin Thein Maung, the divisional administrator of Pegu, officially known as Bago, confirmed to DVB on Monday that most of the thousands of flood victims have begun leaving the shelters to return to their homes.

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“The evacuees are heading home now as the water has subsided. We [Pegu government authorities] are sending aid packages to the affected neighbourhoods,” he said, adding that over 10,000 acres of farmland were submerged in the floods, half of which was completely destroyed.

Meanwhile, all 22 relief camps in Thanatpin have now been closed, said local lower house MP Myint Oo.

“Most of the victims of the floods were taking shelter at their friends’ and relatives’ homes,” Myint Oo said. “Right now, all 22 flood shelters in the area have been closed and we are now delivering aid to them at their homes.”

In Thanatpin, more than 80 percent of 50,000 acres of farmland were destroyed during ten days of flooding, he added.

Myo Khine, a National League for Democracy official in Kawa Township, said that evacuees have begun to return home as the ten flood camps around the area have been closed down.

Roughly 20,000 acres of farmland in Kawa Township were destroyed in the floods, he said.