Cyclone turns Myanmar city into "war zone", 4 dead

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government declared disaster areas in five states on Sunday after a Category 3 cyclone tore through the Irrawaddy delta region, killing at least four people in Yangon, state newspapers said.

Packing winds of 190 km per hour when it hit on Saturday morning, Cyclone Nargis devastated the former Burma's leafy main city, littering the streets with debris from fallen trees and battered buildings.

"Utter war zone," one Yangon-based diplomat said in an email to Reuters in Bangkok. "Trees across all streets. Utility poles down. Hospitals devasted. Clean water scarce."

Many roofs were ripped off even sturdy buildings, suggesting damage would be severe in the shanty towns that sit on the outskirts of the sprawling river-delta city of 5 million people.

"I have never seen anything like it," one retired government worker told Reuters. "It reminded me of when Hurricane Katrina hit the United States."

Although the sun was shining by Sunday morning, the former capital was without power and water.

An Electricity Board official said it was impossible to know when services -- hit-and-miss at the best of times in one of Asia's poorest countries -- would be restored.

"It is very hard to say when we can resume supply. We still have to clear the mess," the official, who did not want to be named, said.