Tropical Cyclone Impacts Myanmar Rice, Sugarcane
By Brad Luchen and Drew Lerner
Kansas City, April 16 (World Weather Inc.) – A tropical cyclone made landfall over central western Myanmar Sunday and its remnants will produce heavy rain across the heart of the nation into Monday and possibly for a little while early Tuesday. Flooding is possible, but the region had been dry prior to the storm’s arrival and that should minimize the impact especially since the storm was expected to be relatively weak as it moves across the nation toward Yunnan, China.
Tropical Cyclone Maarutha came inland as a moderate storm and produced some high wind and heavy rain along the central west coast of Myanmar. Some damage to sugarcane and rice was suspected, near the coast, but areas further inland should not experience much negative impact. The moisture might disrupt some of the early harvesting of winter rice and could threaten the quality of that crop. Any mature grain hanging from the heads of plants could be knocked to the ground where it will not be harvestable.
Sugarcane might have been twisted by the strong wind. A very small percentage of the crop near the coast may have been knocked down, but it should upright itself again. Much of the cane may have been cut and harvested prior to the storm’s arrival further minimizing the potential for damage.
The storm will move into southern China by Wednesday with most of the precipitation in Myanmar ending Tuesday. Harvest progress will resume shortly thereafter and an assessment of damage, if any, will begin at that time.
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