Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

57 Dead, Millions Stranded As Floods Ravage Bangladesh, India


Sun 22 May 2022 | 01:44 PM
Ahmad El-Assasy

Officials say heavy rains have caused severe floods in Bangladesh and India, stranding millions and killing at least 57 people.

The greatest floods in Bangladesh's north-east in nearly two decades have stranded approximately 2 million people, according to The Guardian.

Floodwaters flowing from India's north-east smashed a key embankment on the Barak River, inundating at least 100 villages in Zakiganj, according to Mosharraf Hossain, the Sylhet region's main government administrator.

"So far, floods have trapped about two million people," he stated on Saturday.

Flooding is common in many parts of Bangladesh and neighbouring India, and experts warn climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme weather occurrences around the world.

According to local disaster management authorities, dozens of people were murdered in India this week due to flooding, landslides, and thunderstorms.

At least 14 people were killed in landslides and floods in Assam, which borders Bangladesh.

The floods, which were precipitated by torrential rains that inundated swaths of farmland and damaged thousands of homes, affected more than 850,000 people in around 3,200 villages in Assam, officials said on Saturday.

As river levels rise and significant swaths of land remain underwater in most districts, about 90,000 people have been relocated to state-run relief shelters.

In Bihar state, west of Assam, thunderstorms killed at least 33 people on Thursday.