<p class="title">Myanmar troops and emergency responders scrambled to provide aid in flood-hit parts of the country Sunday after rising waters forced residents to flee by boat and a landslide killed at least 52 people.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Every year monsoon rains hammer Myanmar and other countries across Southeast Asia, submerging homes, displacing residents and triggering landslides.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But this season's deluge has tested disaster response after a fatal landslide on Friday in southeastern Mon state was followed by heavy flooding that reached the roofs of houses and treetops in nearby towns.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Hundreds of soldiers, firefighters and local rescue workers were still pulling bodies and vehicles out of the muddy wreckage of Paung township on Sunday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The latest death toll we have from the landslide in Mon state was 52," Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As the rainy season reaches its peak, the country's armed forces are pitching in and have readied helicopters to deliver supplies.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Access to affected regions is still good. Our ground forces can reach the areas so far," Zaw Min Tun said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Heavy rains pounded other parts of Mon, Karen and Kachin state, flooding roads and destroying bridges that crumbled under the weight of the downpour.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the bulk of the relief effort is focused on hard-hit Mon, which sits on the coast of the Andaman sea.</p>.<p class="bodytext">About two-thirds of the state's Ye township remained flooded, an administrator said, as drone footage showed only the tops of houses, tree branches and satellite dishes poking above the waters.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Families realised they had to leave in the early hours Sunday, packing possessions into boats, rowing towards the higher ground or swimming away.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Than Htay, a 40-year-old from Ye town told AFP that water rose to their waists around 02:00 am and she and her family members started shouting for help.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The heavy rains muffled their pleas but a boat happened to pass by and gave them a ride.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"That's why we survived. We thought we were dead," she said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Another resident said this year's flooding was the worst they had experienced.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Floodwaters have submerged more than 4,000 houses in the state and displaced more than 25,000 residents who have sought shelter in monasteries and pagodas, according to state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Vice President Henry Van Thio visited landslide survivors in a Paung township village on Saturday and "spoke of his sorrow" while promising relief, the paper reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The search for victims continued later Sunday though the rain has made the process more difficult.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We are still working. We will continue searching in the coming days as well," Paung township administrator Zaw Moe Aung said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Climate scientists in 2015 ranked Myanmar at the top of a global list of nations hardest hit by extreme weather.</p>.<p class="bodytext">That year more than 100 people died in floods that also displaced hundreds of thousands.</p>
<p class="title">Myanmar troops and emergency responders scrambled to provide aid in flood-hit parts of the country Sunday after rising waters forced residents to flee by boat and a landslide killed at least 52 people.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Every year monsoon rains hammer Myanmar and other countries across Southeast Asia, submerging homes, displacing residents and triggering landslides.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But this season's deluge has tested disaster response after a fatal landslide on Friday in southeastern Mon state was followed by heavy flooding that reached the roofs of houses and treetops in nearby towns.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Hundreds of soldiers, firefighters and local rescue workers were still pulling bodies and vehicles out of the muddy wreckage of Paung township on Sunday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The latest death toll we have from the landslide in Mon state was 52," Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As the rainy season reaches its peak, the country's armed forces are pitching in and have readied helicopters to deliver supplies.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Access to affected regions is still good. Our ground forces can reach the areas so far," Zaw Min Tun said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Heavy rains pounded other parts of Mon, Karen and Kachin state, flooding roads and destroying bridges that crumbled under the weight of the downpour.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the bulk of the relief effort is focused on hard-hit Mon, which sits on the coast of the Andaman sea.</p>.<p class="bodytext">About two-thirds of the state's Ye township remained flooded, an administrator said, as drone footage showed only the tops of houses, tree branches and satellite dishes poking above the waters.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Families realised they had to leave in the early hours Sunday, packing possessions into boats, rowing towards the higher ground or swimming away.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Than Htay, a 40-year-old from Ye town told AFP that water rose to their waists around 02:00 am and she and her family members started shouting for help.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The heavy rains muffled their pleas but a boat happened to pass by and gave them a ride.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"That's why we survived. We thought we were dead," she said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Another resident said this year's flooding was the worst they had experienced.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Floodwaters have submerged more than 4,000 houses in the state and displaced more than 25,000 residents who have sought shelter in monasteries and pagodas, according to state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Vice President Henry Van Thio visited landslide survivors in a Paung township village on Saturday and "spoke of his sorrow" while promising relief, the paper reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The search for victims continued later Sunday though the rain has made the process more difficult.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We are still working. We will continue searching in the coming days as well," Paung township administrator Zaw Moe Aung said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Climate scientists in 2015 ranked Myanmar at the top of a global list of nations hardest hit by extreme weather.</p>.<p class="bodytext">That year more than 100 people died in floods that also displaced hundreds of thousands.</p>