Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Tronado houd huis in Myanmar

Two children have been killed and scores of people were injured as a strong tornado ripped through a town in Myanmar over the weekend.

The tornado cut a swathe of destruction through the town of Laputta in the Ayeyarwaddy delta area of the country, 100 miles (160 kilometres) southwest of Yangon.

Officials claim that around 160 houses have been destroyed along with many school and office buildings. One school building collapsed injuring four students, with two of them left in a critical condition.

Heavy rain and flash flooding also accompanied the storms that lashed many parts of the country over the weekend, with floodwaters inundating homes, disrupting traffic and forcing more than 800 families to evacuate their homes.

Authorities are now warning of dangerously high water levels on four rivers which run the length of the country.

Myanmar has suffered a series of storms since late spring of this year, that have killed scores of people and caused considerable damage.