Climate experts are warning of acute water shortages and extremely high temperatures throughout Myanmar’s coming dry season as a result of one of the strongest El Niño events on record.
The director-general of Myanmar’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology warned that high temperatures in March, April and May could reach, or top, the last recorded peak of 47.2 degrees Celsius (that’s almost 117 degrees Fahrenheit!) during a moderate El Niño in 2010.
The weather event, stemming from a natural warming of Pacific Ocean waters, brings more frequent cyclones, floods and droughts across the globe every few years. The conditions during this cycle, which started mid-2015, are said to be the worst in 35 years.
At a forum in Naypyitaw yesterday held to address the issue, the director-general said the whole country – barring the far north – can expect a late monsoon and scarce rainfall, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported.
Other likely effects include unusual rainfall, disease, and extreme water scarcity.
Farmers in the Irrawaddy Delta told UCAN, a Catholic news agency, that they had faced shortages since mid-January when wells dried up.
In Yangon, National League for Democracy officials have warned its offices to make ready water tanks in shortage-prone locations.
