8 dead, two million affected by floods in Bangladesh

Sabuj Rana, police chief of the northern rural town of Shahjadur, said two teenagers died when a boat capsized in floodwaters in Shahjadur. "There were nine people in the small boat. Seven swam to safety. The two boys did not know how to swim and drowned," he said.

Three people died in two electrocutions after their boat got entangled in live wires flowing in floodwaters, said Kurigram police chief Bishwadeb Roy.

Earlier this week, officials said three more people died in separate flooding incidents across the country.

Flooding in Rangpur district in northern Bangladesh on July 6. Photo: AFP

The Bangladesh government has opened hundreds of shelters for people displaced by the floods and sent food and relief supplies to hard-hit districts in the north of the country.

"More than two million people have been affected by the floods. Seventeen of the country's 64 districts have been affected," said Kamrul Hasan, secretary of the Bangladesh Ministry of Disaster Management.

Mr Hasan said the flood situation could worsen in the north in the coming days as the Brahmaputra river, one of Bangladesh's main waterways, was flowing at dangerous levels in some areas.

In the worst-hit city of Kurigram, eight of nine rural towns were submerged by floodwaters, local disaster and relief official Abdul Hye said.

"We live with floods here. But this year the water level is very high. In just three days, the water level of the Brahmaputra River has risen by 2m to 2.5m," said Mr. Abdul.

"Floodwaters have submerged more than 80% of the houses in the area. We are trying to provide food, especially rice and cooking oil, but there is a drinking water crisis."

Bangladesh is in the midst of the annual summer monsoon season, which brings South Asia 70-80% of its annual rainfall and causes floods and landslides that endanger people and infrastructure.

The South Asian nation of 170 million people, which is crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has seen more frequent flooding in recent decades. Climate change has made rainfall more erratic and melted glaciers in the upper Himalayas.

Ngoc Anh (according to AFP)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/tam-nguoi-chet-hai-trieu-nguoi-bi-anh-huong-boi-lu-lut-o-bangladesh-post302547.html