STRONG winds knocked down two houses in Yangon’s East Dagon township on June 7, according to a resident of the neighbourhood.

He said the wind blew through the area at about 11:40am and lasted for about 45 seconds.

“It knocked down two wooden houses and tore the zinc roofing from seven other houses. The local elementary school also lost about 35 percent of its roofing,” he said. “But on the bright side, local residents got lots of firewood from fallen tree branches.”

According to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH), a low pressure system that had formed in the Bay of Bengal on June 4 had started to fade by noon on June 8.

The weather system had intensified the effects of monsoon in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, bringing heavy rainfall to some areas of the country, particularly along the coast.

In Rakhine State, Maungdaw received 10.63 inches of rain on June 7, while 9.06 inches fell on Sittwe on the same day.

DMH predicted that Rakhine, Kayin, Mon and Chin states – as well as upper Sagaing, Bago, Yangon, Ayeyarwady and Tanintharyi divisions – would have higher-than-normal rainfall from June 10 to 20.