Heavy monsoon rains have resulted in catastrophic flooding across Bangladesh and parts of India, forcing nearly 300,000 Bangladeshis into emergency shelters, according to disaster officials.
The relentless downpours have led to at least 42 fatalities since the beginning of the week, with many deaths attributed to landslides.
In Feni, one of the worst-hit districts near the India-Bangladesh border, 60-year-old Lufton Nahar shared the dire conditions from a relief shelter: “My house is completely inundated.
Water is flowing above our roof. My brother brought us here by boat. If he hadn’t, we would have died.” The floods have submerged large areas, affecting a country of 170 million people known for its vulnerability to such disasters due to its extensive river network.
Citizens rally to provide aid as Bangladesh faces severe monsoon flooding crisis.The deluge has severely disrupted infrastructure, damaging highways and railway lines between Dhaka, the capital, and Chattogram, the country’s primary port city.
This disruption has hindered access to affected regions and impacted businesses. The flooding also comes in the wake of significant political upheaval, with the ousting of the former government and the interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus now managing the crisis.
In neighboring India’s Tripura state, disaster official Sarat Kumar Das reported that 24 people have died due to the floods, while 18 fatalities have been confirmed in Bangladesh.
The floodwaters have heavily impacted Cox’s Bazar, a district housing approximately 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
Despite the dire situation, forecasts suggest that rainfall may diminish in the coming days. In the interim, efforts by local students and citizens, who have been organizing crowdfunding campaigns and distributing relief supplies, are providing critical support to those affected.