Tornado kills 8 near Myanmar capital, destroys over 200 homes

The tornado struck two villages near the capital Naypyitaw in central Myanmar, killing eight people and destroying more than 200 homes. The tornado struck Aung Myin Kon and Tadau villages on the southern outskirts of Naypyitaw around 6:10 p.m. Thet Ping Soe, a prominent member of the Doh Lewe charity organization, told The Associated Press on Friday. He said local charities had taken 128 people to hospitals and 232 homes were destroyed in the two villages.

A director general of the Meteorological and Hydrology Department said the storm lasted for about 40 minutes. Almost all the houses in the villages have been badly damaged. Restoration will take months. Major tornadoes are rare in Myanmar. However, tornadoes of a size that rarely cause fatalities and severe damage occur more often in the summer and pre-monsoon periods when temperatures rise. During this period, low-lying parts of Myanmar are frequently struck by tornadoes, but there are few casualties. Such deaths are rare in central Myanmar.

Myanmar experiences extreme weather almost every year during the monsoon season. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed over 138,000 people. State-run MRTV television reported that the head of Myanmar’s military-installed government, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, visited the disaster area on Saturday and provided aid to residents.