Millions stranded, dozens killed in floods in Bangladesh and India

Heavy rains have caused massive floods in parts of Bangladesh and India, leaving millions in critical condition and killing at least 57, officials said Saturday.

In Bangladesh, about two million people have been affected by the largest floods in the northeast for nearly two decades.

At least 100 villages in Zakigandja were flooded after floodwaters rushing from northeastern India broke through a major embankment on the Barak River, said Mosharaf Hossein, the government’s chief government administrator.

“About two million people have been flooded,” he told AFP, adding that at least 10 people had died this week.

Many parts of Bangladesh and neighboring regions of India are prone to flooding, and experts say climate change increases the likelihood of extreme weather events worldwide.

Each additional degree of global warming increases the amount of water in the atmosphere by about seven percent, which inevitably affects the amount of precipitation.

At least 47 people have been killed in India this week in days of floods, landslides and thunderstorms, local disaster relief authorities said.

In the state of Assam, which borders Bangladesh, at least 14 people have died in landslides and floods.

Osama authorities say more than 850,000 people in about 3,200 villages were affected by floods on Saturday. torrential rains which flooded farmland and damaged thousands of homes.

Nearly 90,000 people have been relocated to state shelters for help water levels in rivers flowing high and large plots of land remain under water in most areas.

At least 33 people were killed in a thunderstorm west of Assam in Bihar on Thursday.

More than three dozen people have been affected by off-season weather events that have damaged hundreds of hectares of crops and thousands of fruit trees.

This week, Bihar also experienced intense heat, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

“Blessing and Curse”

In Bangladesh Zakiganj people were spotted fishing on flooded roads and some residents were taking their cattle to shelters from the floods.

Bus driver Shamim Ahmed, 50, told AFP: “My house is under my belt deep water. None drinking waterwe harvest rainwater.

“Rain is both a blessing and a curse for us now.”

All the furniture in Lalila Begum’s widow’s house was destroyed, she said, but she and her two daughters remained in place, hoping that in a day or two the waters would recede.

“My two daughters and I put one bed on the other and live on it,” she said. “There is a shortage of food. We share one person’s food and one meal a day.”

The floods affected many areas of the city of Sylhet, the largest in the northeast, where another official told AFP that about 50,000 families had been without electricity for days.

Hossein, the chief administrator, said the floods were caused by both rain and a surge of water from abroad in Assam.

But officials say the ruined embankment at the Zakigandj border can only be repaired once. water the level dropped.

© 2022 AFP