Two Chinese companies will accept responsibility for a flood that forced thousands of people to flee their homes outside Mandalay.

On Sunday, an embankment near the in-development Shwe Ge wastewater pumping station in Amarapura Township broke, forcing thousands of nearby residents to flee the rising waters. The Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC) said companies building the structure, Chinese firms China Energy Engineering Group and CNOOD, will soon acknowledge their roles in the disasters, the Irrawaddy reported. “Excavation in Nankad Lake by the pumping pipeline project has further weakened the embankment,” the Irrawaddy quoted MCDC spokesperson U Kyaw San Myint as saying. The Shwe Ge project began in 2018, but completion has been delayed by a combination of monsoon rains and an absence of foreign employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kyaw San Myint explained.

Severe flooding is not unusual for the Irrawaddy’s basin and banks, although they are usually natural and unavoidable. Each rainy season sees farms and homes destroyed by rising waters—and also waves of relief money from local and international aid groups. However, in addition to the human toll, this flood threatened U Bein Bridge, one of Myanmar’s most cherished cultural sites and most popular tourist destinations. Although the waters rose high up its support posts, the bridge did not sustain serious damage, Myanmar Times reported.