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The death toll in the recent flooding in Bangladesh rises dramatically, as both the Ganga and the Brahmaputra breach the danger mark, overflowing into homes and farmland. More than a week of heavy flooding in Bangladesh has killed 15 people and rendered over 10,000 homeless. An estimated 1 million Bangladeshis are marooned in north and northwestern parts of the country, and a Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre bulletin says levels of the Teesta, Jamuna and Brahmaputra rivers, which flow from India, are likely to rise even further.

“At least 10,000 people are left in the open as (swollen) rivers breaching their embankments washed away some 2,000 homes in affected districts in the north and northwestern parts of the country,” an official from the disaster management and relief ministry said. Local administration officials were struggling to reach food and medicine to stranded people in remote areas, he added.

Drowning and snakebite were the chief causes of death, most of them in the Rangpur, Nilphamari and Sherpur districts. Thousands of people have contracted waterborne diseases due to lack of clean drinking water in the month-long floods -- one Bangladeshi newspaper puts the figure as high as 63,000.

The death toll rose dramatically when the two largest regional rivers -- the Ganga and the Brahmaputra -- climbed to their danger levels, overflowing into homes and farmland and destroying roads and electricity poles.

The current wave of flooding, which began around 10 days ago, is the second in the country in less than two months. On July 18, floods that hit six northern Bangladeshi districts spread to central areas of the country, as water gushed down to the Bay of Bengal. Low-lying areas of the capital Dhaka and the nearby river port town of Narayanganj were flooded.

Over 40,000 people were driven from their fragile mud-wall huts in the latest wave of flooding in the worst affected northern Rangpur region. The region’s major river, the Teesta, burst its banks inundating fresh areas in at least seven northern districts.

“We have confirmed reports that thousands of people were forced to abandon their flooded abodes and seek shelter in schools and government buildings,” said district commissioner Nazrul Islam Khan. He added that an emergency rescue operation had been launched for people in distress.

Torrential monsoon rains have washed away railway tracks and road bridges, say officials. In several parts of central Bangladesh, heavy showers triggered by the monsoon threw rivers into spate, which in turn set off landslides.

Bangladesh experiences heavy flooding almost every year, from June to September, during the northeast monsoon. The floods force tens of thousands of people in rural areas to abandon their homes and farms and seek shelter in community centres in the dry highlands. The worst floods in 15 years swept through the country in 2004, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving millions stranded.

Source: Infochange India News & Features