Myanmar's president called Thursday for the evacuation of low-lying areas as the Irrawaddy river threatened to breach embankments, leaving villagers with just sand bags to hold back churning waters that have hit much of the country.

Floods from a heavy monsoon season have cut through swathes of South and Southeast Asia in recent weeks, claiming hundreds of lives and displacing millions.

Tens of thousands of people huddled Wednesday in monasteries and other makeshift evacuation centers in remote areas of Myanmar cut off by deadly floods, as rescuers struggled to deliver desperately needed aid.

Heavy monsoon downpours have caused devastation across large parts of South and Southeast Asia in recent weeks, claiming hundreds of lives and displacing millions.

Myanmar formally appealed Tuesday for international help in tackling massive floods with rescuers struggling to reach isolated regions, as rain-battered Asian nations counted the rising cost of this year's monsoon.

Flash floods and landslides in Myanmar have claimed at least 46 lives and affected some 215,000 people, swallowing huge tracts of land in what the United Nations has described as a "major natural disaster".

Monsoon rains have claimed hundreds of lives across Asia, authorities reported Monday, as rescuers scrambled to reach remote areas of India, Pakistan and Myanmar after flash floods and landslides.

Authorities in India say more than 120 people have died across the country in recent days, while more than a million have been displaced by rains worsened by a cyclone that barreled through the Bay of Bengal last week.

The toll from flash floods and landslides in Myanmar after days of torrential rain is likely to rise, the U.N. warned Sunday, as monsoon downpours brought misery to thousands across the region.

At least 27 people have been killed and more than 150,000 affected by flooding in Myanmar in recent days, with the government declaring the four worst-hit areas in central and western Myanmar as "national disaster-affected regions".

Severe flooding across Myanmar hampered rescue efforts on Saturday as thousands sheltered at monasteries after rising waters triggered by torrential rains killed at least 27 people, officials said.

Heavy monsoon rain has battered vast swathes of the country in recent weeks, decimating tens of thousands of homes and fields and leaving people stranded in remote villages in a disaster testing the government's limited relief operations.

Major floods have killed at least 27 people across Myanmar and inundated the homes and fields of tens of thousands more, a disaster relief official said Friday, warning of further heavy rains.  

Weeks of unrelenting rain has deluged swathes of northern and western Myanmar, trapping people in remote villages and stretching the country's already threadbare rescue capabilities. 

Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday registered to run for a general election which her party is expected to sweep, as the ruling bloc admitted it was bracing for big losses.

Hundreds of cheering supporters gathered in the township of Thanlyin, a two-hour drive from Yangon, as Suu Kyi formally registered her intention to stand again for the rural constituency of Kawhmu in November polls.

Floods triggered by torrential monsoon rains have killed at least 10 people in Myanmar in the last 48 hours, state media and officials reported Sunday.

Six people were killed by flash floods on Saturday in Thabeikkyin, central Mandalay Region, the Ministry of Information said, while another three perished the same day in Thibaw, northern Shan State.

The U.S. on Friday said it was “deeply concerned” about escalating conflict in parts of northern Myanmar, raising fears over the fragile peace process as the latest round of ceasefire talks in Yangon ended without a breakthrough.

Efforts to end decades of civil war in ethnic minority regions have brought long-standing enemies to the negotiating table since a quasi-civilian government took power four years ago, but outbreaks of heavy fighting in several areas have overshadowed peace efforts.