Myanmar dam overflow floods 100 villages, displaces thousands

Monsoon rains caused a dam in central Myanmar to overflow early Wednesday, inundating about 100 villages and blocking the country’s biggest highway, a government official said.

No casualties have been reported but thousands were displaced and took shelter in temporary camps.

Swar Chaung dam’s spillway structure, which regulates the release of water from the levee, broke due to heavy seasonal rainfall in the Bago region, authorities said.

The water gushed into the rural flatland as people fled their homes on foot, clutching bags of belongings, according to footage of the aftermath.

The weight of the floodwater also fractured part of a bridge on the Yangon-Mandalay highway, which serves as an important artery between Myanmar’s two biggest cities.

“We don’t have exact data about the number of victims but the water has hit villages where more than 50,000 people live,” ministry of social welfare director Phyu Lae Lae Tun said.

She added that a total of 12,000 households in some 100 villages were affected by the floods.