Thousands displaced due to floods in Myanmar

Thousands of people have been displaced due to floods in Myanmar's Ayeyarwady region, the media reported on Friday.

Heavy floods submerged Kangyidaunt and several other towns along the Ayeyarwady river, forcing residents to take shelter on higher ground, Efe news reported.

The highway leading west from Yangon to Pathein, the capital of the Ayeyarwady region, was inundated at several places, with farmers using their tractors to help pull motorists' vehicles through the water.

The Ayeyarwady region, a key rice-growing area, experiences rain and flooding every year, but the El Nino effect has been blamed for worsening floods and weather in several parts of the world this year, said a July report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN.