Five people died and about 40,000 others were evacuated due to flooding and landslides caused by monsoon rains in Burma, the country’s authorities said on Friday.
Images taken in western Rakhine state, which was devastated by Cyclone Mocha in May, show vast rural areas submerged.
Around this time of year, Burma is hit by heavy rains every year, but in recent weeks extreme weather events have occurred around the world, made worse by climate change, scientists say.
Five people have died across the country in recent days, Lay Shwe Zin Oo, a senior aid ministry official, told AFP.
Around 37,000 people have already been evacuated to makeshift camps, she added, and the number is expected to surpass the 40,000 mark on Friday.
The flooding began in late July and affected nine states and regions from north to south of the country.
In central Karen state, a landslide cut off a main road to a border town with Thailand, and the junta said it could take a month to build a temporary bridge.
Adding to the bad weather, Burma is raging a bloody civil war between the junta that took power in a coup in February 2021 and anti-regime armed groups.
According to a local monitoring group, more than 3,800 people have been killed since the coup, with the junta estimating the number at 5,000.
The United Nations sharply criticized the junta for its handling of the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha, which killed at least 148 people and destroyed many homes. She had refused to allow international aid to be channeled to the affected region.