If the storms that have battered Yangon in the past week have felt particularly violent, you’ve got terrific instincts.
In a series of Facebook posts over the past two days, the Myanmar Fire Services Department revealed that a number of trees have been uprooted entirely during the rains and sent crashing into buildings and roads around the country.
In the posts, MFSD workers can be seen clearing felled trees in Yangong’s Mingalardon, Insein, Seikkyi Kanaungto, and Ahlone townships, which were said to have been hit with wind gusts of up to 20km/h have been blamed for felling trees.
In one picture, municipal workers dressed in hard hats and black rain jackets with letters reading “Park Official” can be seen clearing away branches while a yellow construction crane maneuvers its way around an uprooted tree.
https://www.facebook.com/fsd.gov.mm/posts/2478776715595720?__tn__=-R
In others, firefighters in orange jumpsuits work to clear away a fallen tree that landed on the roof of a wooden house as the neighborhood’s residents looked on.
https://www.facebook.com/fsd.gov.mm/posts/2478602682279790?__tn__=-R
But the most impressive picture from Wednesday might be that of a giant 30-foot tree that fell on a — luckily — empty dirt road that required the effort of almost two dozen firefighters to clear. The sheer size of the tree gives you an impression of how strong the wind has been at times.
https://www.facebook.com/fsd.gov.mm/posts/2477857245687667?__tn__=-R
Myanmar is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects of climate change, particularly with respect to extreme weather events and lasting impacts on the regularity and intensity of seasonal monsoon and hot weather patterns.
Read more stories from around the city at Coconuts.co/Yangon.
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