More than 50,000 people have been evacuated their homes in central Myanmar after a dam breach flooded towns and villages and caused the closure of a major highway.
Fire authorities sent a team to the Swar irrigation dam after the breach on Wednesday unleashed water into the nearby town of Swar and several other settlements.
Many people, including some not directly hit by flooding, had decided to leave their homes for fear the water level could rise further, said an official of the Natural Disaster Management Department who asked not to be identified.
In all, 12,000 households or a total of 54,000 people had been displaced, said another official, from the Department of Relief and Resettlement.
Source: AAP
