At least 41 people have died since Thursday in Bangladesh and India due to flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains. Another six million inhabitants are stranded, unable to leave their homes and shelters, officials from both countries said on Saturday (18).
Among the dead are three teenagers between the ages of 12 and 14. According to a Bangladeshi government expert interviewed by the Reuters news agency, this is the biggest flooding in the region in at least 18 years. The floods would be a consequence of the runoff of storm waters in the Indian mountains, and the expectation is that heavier rains will occur in the coming days.
Floods and landslides are frequent during the monsoon season, from June to September.
Experts, however, indicate that the climate crisis exacerbates and accelerates incidents. “Much of the northeast of the country is under water, and the situation is getting worse as heavy rains continue,” said Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain, chief administrator of the Sylhet region in northeast Bangladesh, where flooding has also forced the closure of a of the country’s international airports.
The situation is worse in the district of Sunamganj, the most affected by the rains. According to authorities, the site is almost disconnected from the rest of the country’s territory, and the Armed Forces had to assist in the search for the dead and the rescue of stranded people. The area is about 220 kilometers from the capital Dhaka.
“There is a shortage of boats, which makes it difficult for people to move to safer places,” said Hossain. Images from the local press show Bangladesh’s roads and railways submerged, with people crossing rough brown waters. Some carry belongings and drive cattle.
There are also reports of power and internet outages, and several schools have been converted into emergency shelters to receive residents of villages that were flooded within hours.
In northeast India, the Armed Forces are also assisting with rescues after landslides killed at least 16 people and displaced nearly 2 million in the past three days.
On Saturday afternoon, early morning in Brazil, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter that he had spoken with authorities in the state of Assam, the region most affected by floods in the country. “I have secured all possible support and pray for the safety and well-being of the people affected by the floods.”
In July last year, more than 100 people died in India due to heavy rains in the monsoon period. At the time, more than half of the deaths took place in Raigad, south of Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra. The site was hit by the heaviest rain in four decades, according to experts.
