41 lifeless, tens of millions stranded as floods hit Bangladesh, India

By AFP

SYLHET: Monsoon storms in Bangladesh and India have killed at the very least 41 folks and unleashed devastating floods that left tens of millions of others stranded, officers stated Saturday.

Floods are a daily menace to tens of millions of individuals in low-lying Bangladesh, however consultants say local weather change is rising their frequency, ferocity and unpredictability.

Relentless downpours over the previous week have inundated huge stretches of Bangladesh’s northeast, with troops deployed to evacuate households reduce off from neighbouring communities.

Schools have been was aid shelters to deal with complete villages inundated in a matter of hours by rivers that immediately burst their banks.

“The whole village went under water by early Friday and we all got stranded,” stated Lokman, whose household lives in Companiganj village.

“After waiting a whole day on the roof of our home, a neighbour rescued us with a makeshift boat. My mother said she has never seen such floods in her entire life,” the 23-year-old added.

Asma Akter, one other girl rescued from the rising waters, stated her household had not been in a position to eat for 2 days.

“The water rose so quickly we couldn’t bring any of our things,” she stated. “And how can you cook anything when everything is underwater?”

Lightning triggered by the storms has killed at the very least 21 folks across the South Asian nation since Friday afternoon, police officers informed AFP.

Among them have been three youngsters aged between 12 and 14 who have been struck by lightning on Friday within the rural city of Nandail, stated native police chief Mizanur Rahman.

Another 4 folks died when landslides hit their hillside properties within the port metropolis of Chittagong, police inspector Nurul Islam informed AFP.

At least 16 folks have been killed since Thursday in India’s distant Meghalaya, the state’s chief minister Conrad Sangma wrote on Twitter, after landslides and surging rivers that submerged roads.

Pained to be taught concerning the demise of seven people in Mawsynram Block, #EastKhasiHills District resulting from landslides & 2 deaths in #SouthWestKhasiHills District (1 civilian & 1 @BSF_Meghalaya jawan).

My deepest condolences to the households of those people@PMOIndia @AmitShah

— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) June 17, 2022

Next door in Assam, greater than 1.8 million folks have been affected by floods after 5 days of incessant downpours.

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Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed reporters he had instructed district officers to supply “all necessary help and relief” to these caught within the flooding.

‘The scenario is unhealthy’

Flooding in Bangladesh worsened on Saturday morning after a short lived reprieve from the rains the earlier afternoon, Sylhet area chief authorities administrator Mosharraf Hossain informed AFP.

“The situation is bad. More than four million people have been stranded by flood water,” Hossain stated, including that just about the whole area was with out electrical energy.

The flooding pressured Bangladesh’s third-largest worldwide airport in Sylhet to close down on Friday.

Around the regional capital, residents waded by means of waist-deep water alongside roads subsequent to partially submerged caught automobiles.

Forecasters stated the floods have been set to worsen over the following two days with heavy rains in Bangladesh and upstream in India’s northeast.

Before this week’s rains, the Sylhet area was nonetheless recovering from its worst floods in almost 20 years late final month, when at the very least 10 folks have been killed and 4 million others have been affected.