ldnheadline
Send a link to a friend
[June 20, 2022]
By Ruma Paul and Zarir Hussain
DHAKA/GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) -
Authorities in flood-hit Bangladesh and northeastern India scrambled on
Monday to provide aid to more than nine million people marooned after
the heaviest rains in years killed at least 54 people across both South
Asian nations, officials said.
Monsoon rains in low-lying Bangladesh have triggered catastrophic
flooding in the northeastern Sylhet administrative division, leaving a
quarter of its 15 million population stranded amid fast-rising waters
and swollen rivers.
"The flooding is the worst in 122 years in the Sylhet region," said
Atiqul Haque, Director General of Bangladesh's Department of Disaster
Management.
The situation in Sylhet has been worsened by waters cascading down from
the surrounding hills of India's Meghalaya state, including some of
world's wettest areas like Mawsynram and Cherrapunji that each received
more than 970mm (38 inches) of rain on Sunday, according to government
data.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jun/20/images/ads/current/Guzzardos_sda_HEROS_2022.png)
Around 300,000 people have been moved to shelters in Sylhet but more
than four million people are stranded near their inundated homes,
compounding the challenges for authorities to provide aid, including
drinking water and medical supplies.
"The situation is still alarming," Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain, Sylhet
division's chief administrator, told Reuters by phone.
"We are intensifying our efforts providing relief materials. At the
moment, the main challenge is to reach everyone and ensuring
availability of drinking water."
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/062022PIX/news_l25.jpg)
A boy wades through a flooded area during a widespread flood in the
northeastern part of the country, in Sylhet, Bangladesh, June 19,
2022. REUTERS/Stringer
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jun/20/images/ads/current/napa_sda_HEROES_2022.png)
Khalilur Rahman, a resident of Sylhet's Sunamganj
district, said flood waters had swamped the ground floor of his
two-storied house and locals were using boats to move around the
area.
"I have never seen such floods in my life," Rahman, 43, told Reuters
by phone, adding that there had been no electricity since heavy
rains began on Thursday night. "Dry food is running out, there is no
drinking water."
In the neighbouring Indian state of Assam, where at least 26 people
have been killed since heavy rains began around a fortnight ago,
flood waters have started receding, authorities said.
But 4.5 million people have been forced from their homes, with
around 220,000 staying in makeshift shelters run by the government.
Over a million hectare of farmland has been flooded.
"The overall flood situation is improving," Assam's Water Resources
Minister Pijush Hazarika told Reuters.
"Now the biggest challenge is to reach out to the displaced people
and provide them with relief materials."
The South Asian neighbours have experienced increasing extreme
weather in recent years, causing large-scale damage, and
environmentalists warn that climate change could lead to more
disasters, especially in densely populated Bangladesh.
(Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |