At least 41 people were killed in heavy flooding caused by monsoon rains that hit Bangladesh and northeastern India. Authorities (18) said on Saturday that millions of people were stranded by the flooding.

At least 41 people were killed in heavy flooding caused by monsoon rains that hit Bangladesh and northeastern India. Authorities (18) said on Saturday that millions of people were stranded by the flooding.

Flooding is repeated in Bangladesh at this time of year due to the monsoon, a phenomenon that causes heavy rains. However, the frequency and severity of these floods have intensified due to the global climate crisis.

Troops were sent to the northeastern region of the country to assist in the evacuation of isolated residents. Schools have been turned into emergency shelters to accept thousands of homeless people.

“Our village has been completely submerged and stranded since Friday morning,” says Lokman, 23, from Companyganj.

“We waited all day for help on the roof of our house, and a neighbor came to rescue us by boat. My mother says she has never seen such a flood in her life,” says the homeless young man.

without food

Rescued from the flood, Asma Akter says her family has not eaten for two days. “The water rose so fast that we couldn’t take anything with us. How can we cook when everything is underwater?”, in despair.

Among the dead, many victims were driven by floods or buried by landslides, particularly in the port city of Chittagong.

Multiple lightning strikes during the storms caused deaths, including the deaths of two teenagers, ages 12 and 14, in the small town of Nandail.

Floods have also seized villages in northeastern India in the past five days, with 16 more deaths recorded in the Meghalaya region.

The rains are back this Saturday

When it rained again on Saturday, the streets were still flooded in much of northeastern Bangladesh. Almost the entire area is without electricity.

“The situation is bad. More than 4 million people were affected by the floods,” said Mosharraf Hossain, head of government for the Sylhet region.

The forecast points to two more days of torrential rain over this region and northeastern India.

This week’s devastating floods hit a region struggling to recover from a record flood last month that killed 10 people and affected more than 4 million.

(with information from AFP)