Burma floods leave 85,000 homeless in Irrawaddy Delta

BBC: The Burmese government has said that 85,000 people have been driven from their homes by heavy flooding.

The Irrawaddy Delta - where 130,000 people died in a cyclone in 2008 - has been worst affected. Unusually heavy monsoon rains have inundated around 250,000 hectares of rice fields.

President Thein Sein has visited the affected areas, but damaged transport and communications networks mean the full picture is still emerging.

The government says it has set up more than 200 emergency relief centres to help those who have had to leave their homes.

Next year's rice harvest is also expected to be significantly affected. Rice is a key export for Burma and the staple diet for most of the population...