Gale Force Winds Hit Mandalay

By SAW YAN NAING

Winds of up to 50 mph (80 km/ph) slammed Burma’s second largest city, Mandalay, on Wednesday causing widespread damage.

Trees, electrical poles and street signs were uprooted in the storm, which struck the city at around 4 p.m. and lasted about 30 minutes, local residents said.

“Wind and rain ripped through the entire city,” a housewife in Mandalay told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. “The southern part of the city was hit especially hard.”

She said she had seen several fallen trees and electrical poles.

A journalist in Mandalay said that there were reports of roof tiles and satellite dishes blown away by the gale force winds.

One woman and a child were reportedly injured and have been hospitalized, but there have been no reports of deaths caused by the storm.

Last year, Burma’s Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon Division were hit by a category 4 cyclone and winds of up to 100 mph (160 km/ph). The cyclone and resulting tidal wave caused about 140,000 deaths and affected some 2.4 million people.

To date, cyclone survivors in many of the remote areas of the Irrawaddy delta are still living in makeshift shelters and relying on humanitarian aid.