Rescuers in Myanmar said Friday that floods and landslides set off by Typhoon Yagi had killed at least 110 people, as the death toll from the storm kept rising across Southeast Asia, days after it struck the region with powerful winds and intense rain.
Yagi, which slammed into the Philippines and southern China last week, made landfall in Vietnam on Saturday as a super typhoon, the strongest to hit the nation in decades. The storm dissipated over the next few days but left a trail of destruction in northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
Many residents in Myanmar, a nation torn by a civil war, said they were unable to prepare for the storm's expected arrival because of the lack of advance alerts about the risk of severe weather and flooding. Battles between the military junta and rebel forces continued to rage even through the storm.
Nearly a week later, the full extent of the destruction was still not clear, with communication lines down in many areas, and with persistent rain keeping waters high. The junta was also focused on its battles, using its aircraft for bombings instead of saving lives, said Maj. Gen. Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the Kaichin Independence Army, a rebel group.
Myanmar's army commander, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, told officials to request foreign aid for relief and rescue efforts, The Global New Light of Myanmar, a state-owned newspaper, reported Saturday.
Last year, the junta blocked international aid groups from reaching parts of the country affected by Cyclone Mocha.
Rescuers in multiple towns reported finding bodies that had been swept away by floodwaters or caught in landslides, and said they expected the death toll to rise.
Sixty bodies were found in Kalaw, a city about 70 miles northeast of Naypyitaw, the capital, where an entire train station was submerged in muddy water, said Ko Aung Htet, a member of a local rescue team. About 80 people were still missing.
"The water rose so quickly that they couldn't escape in time," he said, adding that people had not evacuated, thinking the storm would be no worse than the floods that hit the country annually.
Women and older residents made up the majority of the rescue teams, he said, reflecting the fact that many young men had joined resistance forces or fled the country to avoid conscription.
Some junta soldiers were conducting rescues, but he said their efforts were far from adequate.
Rescuers in a string of townships north of Naypyitaw, from Yamethin to Pyawbwe and Tatkone, found that at least 32 people had died, including two children, said Kyaw Myint, an official with the Myanmar Fire Services Department. Hundreds of others were injured, and many were still missing.
"The floods this year are quite devastating," he said. "Even two-story houses have been completely submerged."
The rivers in Karenni, a state in eastern Myanmar, had also overflowed, creating currents so powerful that they carried people away. The bodies of 18 medics were recovered after they died while attempting to cross a creek, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, a rebel group, said in a statement.
"We were unaware and unprepared," said Ko Myo Kyaw, a Karenni resident.
In neighboring Vietnam, the storm's death toll kept rising. By Friday afternoon, at least 233 had been confirmed dead, with more than 100 others missing, authorities said. Nearly half of them died in Lao Cai, a mountainous northwestern province where a landslide wiped out an entire village.