Over 900 dead or missing in floods caused by remnants of Typhoon “Yagi” in Myanmar
The aftermath of Typhoon “Yagi” has left Myanmar devastated, with at least 459 people dead, more than 450 missing, over 240 000 displaced, and entire regions submerged under floodwaters.
Image credit: Myanmar Fire Services Department
- In Myanmar, remnants of Typhoon “Yagi” have caused widespread devastation over the past couple of days, leading to at least 459 fatalities and large-scale displacement.
- As of September 15, 2024, the total death toll from Typhoon “Yagi” has risen to 822 across all affected countries. This includes 459 fatalities in Myanmar, 296 in Vietnam, 42 in Thailand, 20 in the Philippines, and 4 in China.
Typhoon “Yagi” made landfall in northern Vietnam on September 7, 2024, striking the provinces of Quang Ninh and Hai Phong with wind speeds exceeding 200 km/h.
After causing severe flooding and damage in Vietnam, Yagi weakened and continued its westward path, affecting Laos. It then moved toward northeastern Myanmar, where it triggered additional flooding and landslides. This path caused widespread disruption across the region, with Myanmar and Thailand also experiencing severe weather in the storm’s wake.
In Myanmar, remnants of Typhoon “Yagi” have caused widespread devastation over the past couple of days, leading to huge loss of life and large-scale displacement.
Latest reports from the country indicate that at least 459 people have died, with over 450 missing as search and rescue missions continue. Additionally, the floods have left hundreds injured and displaced many more as entire regions have been submerged.
In Shan State, one of the hardest-hit areas, 100 people are reported dead, with 100 others missing due to floods and landslides in Kalaw. 18 members of a defense force lost their lives in a landslide in Pekon Township, while floods in Mong Kung Township claimed 14 more lives and damaged over 200 houses.
In some regions, including Tachileik, communication lines have been disrupted, complicating relief efforts further. Videos online show local vendors struggling with flash floods in the region.
Kayah State also experienced significant casualties, with 26 people, including 20 KNDF soldiers and six civilians, reported dead due to flooding. In Naypyidaw, the capital of the country, 20 people were killed, and thousands of homes were submerged under up to 2.13 m (7 feet) of floodwater, affecting 30 villages.
The Mandalay Region was also severely impacted, with 53 972 people affected, including 228 deaths in Yamethin Township. Heavy rains caused the collapse of a dam in Soendin Township, flooding 20 villages under up to 2.44 m (8 feet) of water. Additionally, the Yangon–Mandalay Railway was disrupted, suspending travel due to flooding.
Across the country, over 240 000 people have been displaced from their homes across 34 townships. Emergency responders in areas such as Taungoo Township in the Bago Region reported that at least 30 villages were completely submerged after the Sittaung River broke through flood barriers.
At least 300 people have taken refuge in the Taungoo monastery, but many villages are still cut off.
Social organizations and local residents have indicated that the true death toll could be much higher than currently reported. In Mandalay alone, some reports suggest as many as 230 people may have been killed, while dozens remain missing in southern Shan State. The Myanmar government has not yet released an official death toll.
Myanmar’s military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, issued an appeal for international aid. According to government reports, more than 3 600 people have been rescued, but many areas remain in urgent need of assistance.
As of September 15, 2024, the total death toll from Typhoon “Yagi” has risen to 822 across all affected countries. This includes 459 fatalities in Myanmar, 296 in Vietnam, 42 in Thailand, 20 in the Philippines, and 4 in China.
The storm caused widespread damage, with Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand experiencing the highest fatalities and significant infrastructural destruction. Over 514 people are still missing, and the total estimated damage exceeds $14 billion USD.
It is estimated that 19 million people have been affected in Vietnam alone, with significant damage to infrastructure, including 550 health facilities and over 800 schools.
Before hitting Vietnam, Yagi also impacted other countries. In the Philippines, at least 20 people were confirmed dead, with 22 others still missing. The storm then moved towards China, where it caused four fatalities on the island of Hainan. After devastating these regions, Yagi continued towards Myanmar and Thailand, exacerbating flooding and landslide risks in those countries as well.
References:
1 ရေကြီးရေလျှံမှုကြောင့် နေပြည်တော်အတွင်း လူ ၁၉ ဦးသေဆုံး – MT News – September 13, 2024
2 Myanmar floods kill about 160 people, many trapped, residents say – RFA – September 13, 2024
3 စက်တင်ဘာ ၁၄ ရက် နိုင်ငံတဝန်း သတင်းအနှစ်ချုပ်- ကလောမှာ လူ ၁၀၀ ကျော် ရုပ်အလောင်းတွေ့၊ ၂၀၀ ကျော် ပျောက်ဆုံးနေ – BBC – September 14, 2024
4 ရေကြီးရေလျှံမှုကြောင့် ရမည်းသင်းမြို့နယ်အတွင်းမှ ပြည်သူ ၅၃၉၇၂ ဦးရေဘေးသင့်ပြီး ၁၀ ဦးသေဆုံး – MT News – September 11, 2024
5 စမုံဆည်ကျိုးလို့ ဝမ်းတွင်းမြို့နယ်က ရွာပေါင်း နှစ်ဆယ်ကျော် ရေနစ်မြုပ်- RFA – September 11, 2024
I am an Assistant Editor and Severe Weather & Science Journalist at The Watchers, specializing in real-time severe weather coverage, geophysical event reporting, and research-driven scientific analysis. You can reach me at rishav(at)watchers(.)news.
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