A Late Report on Ayeyarwady Flooding
A leader on the ground recently shared details about a rescue and relief mission that we were unable to provide earlier due to the time it took to safely gather and relay this information. As always, we prioritize the safety of those involved, and we appreciate your patience in waiting for these updates. The support for flood victims in remote areas has only been possible thanks to the generous donations we’ve received, which have allowed us to act swiftly in response to the urgent needs of those affected.
We were happy to inform you that we could help the flood victims in a flooded village in the middle of the Ayeyarwady River. This village was quite affected by the rise of the river water level. We heard that the water level rose two times and the local villagers did not expect it was that worse. The river water flooded the whole village and other villages on the whole sandbar area. It rose up to about 7 feet and the downstairs of the villagers’ houses were fully sunk while other smaller houses were fully sunk up to their roof. Some families that comprise of young and healthy adults moved to the nearest town across the river. Most of the families could not travel to anywhere else. We witnessed that some poor families’ huts were totally sunk and some huts were slanted due to the wet ground under water. One of the worst of them was slanted as a nearby raintree were rooted out of the ground and fell down on the house. All the sesame crops grown by the villagers were fully destroyed. Most of the local villagers did not expect that the water level would rise this high this year though it was usual to see the rise of the water level falling down after it reached in the stream in the west of the village. It is true. This year, the flood damaged thousands of people and it increased the number of the population in humanitarian need across the country.
Recently, UNOCHA in Myanmar estimated 18.6 million people to be in humanitarian need. According to its 2024 report, it stated, “Myanmar is highly exposed to natural hazards including cyclones and flooding and globally ranks as the country that is second-most affected by extreme climate events.” The report also says that at least 28 million people (or half the population) are living in districts at high flood exposure risk. This year, Myanmar Meteorology and Hydrology Department issued a flood warning for 22 cities and townships all over the country from north to south, along the Chindwin, Ayeyarwady and Dokhtawady rivers as water levels started exceeding dangerous levels. Thousands of people were affected by monsoon floods worse than the past years: reported by Reliefweb about the flooding in Myitkyina, Waingmaw, Bhamo, Mogaung, and Hpa-kant (Kachin). This year, it was obviously worse in the riverine areas in Mandalay Region, such as Thabaik-kyin, Sint-gu, Madaya, etc., which were also war-affected due to the recent arising combats between the Myanmar military junta’s forces and the Mandalay PDF. The areas on both sides of the riverine banks and the sandbar residential areas all along the Ayeyarwady River were flooded and destroyed. Among all these vulnerable areas, we could, at least, help two villages on the sandbar area in the middle of the Ayeyarwady River.
So from our side, let me share what was happening. First, we received the call for help from a Buddhist abbot who is residing in the monastery located between the said two villages. In fact, we heard that some houses in other villages such as Seindainggyi were washed away into the river but we could not travel to that village because it was still dangerous to go and see the site. No one in these areas did not expect this worse and could not prepare anything. We heard from the villagers that those vulnerable families could not take anything from their houses and they evacuated the village in the middle of the night and their houses were completely gone when it was near the dawn.
We traveled there in our car down the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway and stayed overnight in Prome (what we called ‘Pyay’ in Burmese). In the next morning, we woke up early and drove to the town where we were donating the flood victims on the way connected between Bago Region, Magway Region and Rakhine State. We had to leave the hotel early as we knew that there was only one ferry crossing the river from the town to the village where we were donating to the flood victims. We caught the ferry fortunately and we were stuffed in the motor boat (ferry) with other loads of goods. Another passenger in the boat said to me that it took only 5-10 minutes in the motor boat to cross the river before the rainy season though it would take about 45-minutes to reach the village as the water level was too high and the river was too wide. It was true. I noticed that it took 30 minutes to cross the main river and another 15 minutes to cross the water that flooded the whole sandbar and we could disembark closely to the village and then we could just walk in the village immediately.
Anyway, we are pleased to report that a successful donation trip was made to assist flood victims in the affected villages. While the specific details of this mission are still being organized and will be shared soon, we wanted to quickly express our gratitude and let you know that the operation was a success. We are incredibly thankful to our donors for making this possible, as their support directly enabled us to bring much-needed relief to those in dire need.
In short, and to summarize, thanks to you, we were able to help a flooded village situated in the middle of the Ayeyarwady River, which had been severely impacted by the rising water levels. This year, the floodwaters reached unexpected heights, submerging entire houses and destroying livelihoods. Many families were forced to evacuate in the middle of the night, with their homes swept away by dawn. Despite the challenges, we managed to reach the village, navigate the treacherous river, and deliver aid to the flood victims, witnessing firsthand the extent of the devastation.
