Casualties in Myanmar from Typhoon Yagi jump to 163

ANKARA

The death toll from powerful Typhoon Yagi in Myanmar has surged to 163, state media reported on Sunday.

Citing authorities, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported that some 74 people have been confirmed dead, while another 89 remain missing from the storm, which hit last weekend.

As search and rescue operations are ongoing, floods have destroyed over 65,000 houses, 24 bridges, 375 schools, and five dams, with more than 235,000 people displaced.

Rain-triggered floods have inundated large swathes of farmland in central regions, including around the sprawling, low-lying capital Naypyidaw.

Landslides hit several hilly areas, with roads and bridges damaged and phone and internet lines down.

Yagi, the strongest storm to hit the region in three decades, has so far killled a total of 350 people in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar.

Myanmar's military junta has already made a rare request for foreign aid to deal with the floods.