Over 18,000 people forced from homes after monsoon flooding in Myanmar

Days of heavy monsoon rain and high river levels in Myanmar have forced more than 18,000 people from their homes. At least one camp for people displaced by recent fighting was flooded, Reuters reports.

Four towns along the Ayeyarwady and Chindwin rivers were in danger of being inundated as the rivers rose, the Department of Disaster Management said on Monday.

“We are working together with local authorities helping the people and providing food,” said the department’s director, Phyu Lai Lai Htun.

The northern state of Kachin was the worst affected, with 14,000 people forced from their homes near the banks of the Ayeyarwady river.