YANGON, April 24, (APP/AFP) – Violent storms which
saw hailstones the size of golf balls rain down across Myanmar
have killed at least eight people in recent days, toppled pagodas
and damaged thousands of buildings, officials said Sunday.
The freak storms struck across five states on Friday and
Saturday after weeks of heatwave temperatures regularly topping
40C (104F).
“From what we know now there are eight people killed and
7,500 houses destroyed during these days,” Phyu Lei Lei Tun,
director of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement,
told AFP, adding that the toll may increase as more information
becomes available.
Six of the victims died in Yay Tha Yauk village in the
central region of Mandalay after flash flooding. Other regions
that were struck included Sagaing and Magway as well as
the states of Shan and Chin.
Pictures and TV footage showed huge hailstones crashing
onto flooded streets and clattering off metal roofs as residents
rushed for shelter.
“I felt afraid of the strong wind, the rain and the
hailstones when I looked out the window,” Yin Myo, a resident
of Mandalay, told AFP.
“Some hailstones were as large as golf balls, most about
the size of ice cubes you put in drinks,” she added, saying her
aunt’s house had been damaged.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said more than
1,700 pagodas were damaged by gale- force winds in the southern
state of Shan on Friday night.
Pictures on social media showed some of the pagoda spires,
which were hundreds of years old, lying shattered on the ground.