At least 351 people were killed and nearly 100,000 left homeless at the weekend when tropical cyclone Nargis tore through Myanmar (Burma), razing thousands of buildings and smashing up streets.

Residents awoke Sunday to scenes of devastation after the cyclone bore through swathes of southern Myanmar late Friday and Saturday, uprooting trees, pummelling buildings and ripping up power lines.

The authorities have declared disaster zones in five states and the regions of Yangon, Ayeyawaddy, Bago, Mon and Karen. State television channel MRTV reported that about 20,000 houses have been destroyed on Haing Gyi island, just off the coast of Ayeyawaddy division where the storm first hit, and 92,706 people there were now homeless.

In one mainland township in Ayeyawaddy, 75 percent of all homes were believed to be destroyed, the channel said, adding that authorities had launched a rescue operation in the region. Nargis made landfall late Friday around the mouth of the Ayeyawaddy (Irrawaddy) river, about 220 kilometres (137 miles) southwest of Yangon, before hitting the country's economic hub.

The cyclone brought down power and phone lines, cutting off the military-run nation one week before a crucial referendum on its new constitution, the first polling in Myanmar since general elections in 1990.
Meanwhile, nine people including two children were killed Sunday when high waves slammed into a breakwater on South Korea's west coast, sweeping anglers and others into the sea, coastguard officials said.

Another 14 people were taken to hospital where five of them were still being treated, said Lee Won-Il, a coastguard official, adding that two of the five are in a critical condition. Lee said the death toll was updated after another body was found and no one is still believed to be missing. A nine-year-old boy and his father, and a five-year-old boy and his uncle, were among the dead, Lee told AFP.

The incident happened near Boryeong, 200 kilometres (124 miles) southwest of Seoul, during a long holiday weekend, and visitors to the town were among the casualties. "The sea water receded like an ebb tide before two-metre-high (seven-foot) waves rushed to the breakwater and rocks to sweep the anglers and tourists into the water," Yonhap news agency quoted one witness as saying.

Myanmar’s coastal area of Ayeyawaddy appears worst hit by the natural disaster, but Yangon was also battered. Traffic lights, billboards and street lamps littered the roads after being knocked over by strong winds. Trees in the leafy city were uprooted, crushing buildings and cars, while water pipes were also cut, forcing people out onto the streets with buckets to try and buy water from the few shops that remained open.

Roofs of houses have been torn away, while only a few taxis and buses which tripled their fares braved the debris-clogged streets on Sunday. The information ministry official said seven empty boats had sunk in the country's main port, while Yangon's international airport was closed until further notice with flights diverted to the city of Mandalay.
"We also deployed military units for rescue and rehabilitation projects. Now the military and police have started to clean the city," the official said. "We are trying to get back to the normal situation as soon as possible."

Electricity supplies and telecommunications in Yangon have been cut since late Friday night as the storm bore down from the Bay of Bengal, packing winds of 190-240 kilometres (120-150 miles) per hour.
There are also fears that the poorer outlying areas of Yangon, with their flimsy houses, might have been hard hit. "A tea shop owner told me that many people in a Yangon suburb need urgent help for food and accommodation," one food vendor said. "Some children are not even wearing clothes." Myanmar's infrastructure has been run into the ground by decades of mismanagement by the military, which has ruled since 1962.

It was not immediately known whether damage from the storm would affect next Saturday's referendum on a new constitution, which the ruling junta says will pave the way for democratic elections in 2010. Critics, however, say the charter will simply enshrine the military's power. Residents in Yangon said they had heard speculation that the referendum might be postponed, but the information ministry official refused to comment.

"We cannot say anything, it is up to the senior authorities," he said. Thailand's meteorological department downgraded Nargis to a depression on Sunday, but warned of flash floods and heavy rains in northern, central and eastern Thai provinces as the storm crept over the border from Myanmar. An official at Thailand's disaster prevention department told AFP that as of Sunday evening, there were no reports of severe flooding in the kingdom.