DHAKA: Relentless monsoon rains and flooding have stranded nearly three million people in Bangladesh and killed two, submerging vast areas and damaging homes and infrastructure, officials from the country’s disaster management ministry said on Thursday.
Reuters TV showed Bangladesh residents evacuating with their belongings by boat and other makeshift transportation as knee-deep water entered their homes.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) has warned that with the rains continuing, water levels could rise further over the next 24 hours, raising concern about additional flooding and displacement.
Road connectivity in several regions were severed, isolating communities and hampering relief efforts, disaster management and relief officials said. The most affected districts in Bangladesh included Feni, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Comilla and Chittagong, where five major rivers were flowing above danger levels, the FFWC said.
“I haven’t seen so much water in the last 20 years. Everything in my house is wrecked because the water has risen to waist level,” said Mohammad Masum, a resident of Feni district.
An analysis in 2015 by the World Bank Institute estimated that 3.5 million people in Bangladesh, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, were at risk of annual river flooding. Scientists attribute the exacerbation of such catastrophic events to climate change.
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