At least 25 people have been killed, millions of homes flooded, transport links cut off and people abandoned in the lowlands of Bangladesh over the weekend, during the country’s worst monsoon floods in recent history.
Key points:
- While at least 25 people have died after weekend floods in Bangladesh, at least 17 more were killed in neighboring Assam, India, during the floods that began this month.
- Some 105,000 people have been evacuated so far, but police estimate more than four million were still stranded.
- Environmentalists warn that climate change could lead to more disasters, especially in the lowlands of Bangladesh
In the northeast of Sylhet, on the banks of the Surma River, thousands of people have been seeking refuge in temporary relief centers as floods from rising rivers have caused extensive damage to fields and property.
Flights to Osmani International Airport in Sylhet were suspended and the Sylhet Sunamganj motorway was flooded.
Water levels in the country’s major rivers were rising, according to the Dhaka Flood Forecast and Alert Center. Bangladesh has about 130 rivers.
In the neighboring Indian state of Assam, at least 17 people were killed during a flood wave that began this month, police officials said Sunday local time.
Thousands of police officers and army personnel have been deployed in parts of the country to assist in search and rescue operations.
Some 105,000 people have been evacuated so far, but police estimate more than four million were still stranded.
Syed Rafiqul Haque, a former ruling party politician in Bangladesh’s Sunamganj district, said the country would face a humanitarian crisis if proper rescue operations were not carried out.
“Almost the entire Sylhet-Sunamganj belt is underwater and millions of people are stranded,” he said, adding that the victims had no food or drinking water and communication networks were down.
People are crossing the floodwaters in Sylhet, Bangladesh, as millions of homes have been flooded as floods have hit low-lying parts of the country and neighboring India. (AP: Abdul Goni)
Regional officials said about 3.1 million people were displaced, 200,000 of whom were housed in makeshift government-run shelters on high embankments or in other highlands.
Last month, a sudden pre-monsoon flood, caused by a stream of water from upstream in the northeastern states of India, affected the northern and northeastern regions of Bangladesh, destroying crops. and damaging houses and roads.
The country was just beginning to recover when fresh rains flooded the same areas again this week.
Bangladesh, a nation of 160 million people, is low-lying and faces threats from natural disasters such as floods and cyclones, exacerbated by climate change.
According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, about 17% of Bangladesh’s population would have to be relocated over the next decade if global warming persisted at the current rate.
Reuters / AP
Posted 1 hour ago 1 hour ago dig. June 19, 2022 at 21:11, updated 21 m ago 21 minutes ago dig. June 19, 2022 at 9:58 p.m.