Over the weekend, at least 25 people were killed in Bangladesh by lightning or landslides, leaving millions stranded or homeless in low-lying northeastern areas ravaged by the worst monsoon floods in the country’s recent history, officials said.
According to police officials in the neighbouring Indian state of Assam, at least 17 people have died as a result of the flooding that began earlier this month.
According to Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan, the head of the state-run Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre, many of Bangladesh’s rivers have risen to dangerous levels, and runoff from heavy rain from the Indian Himalayas has aggravated the issue.
Thousands of police officers and army soldiers have been dispatched to various regions of the country to assist with the search and rescue operations.
So far, over 105,000 people have been evacuated, but police officers believe that over four million people remain stranded.
Former congressman and governing party leader in Sunamganj district Syed Rafiqul Haque claimed the country would face a humanitarian disaster if effective rescue operations were not carried out.
‘Millions of people are stuck since almost the entire Sylhet-Sunamganj belt is under water,’ he added, adding that victims are without food, drinking water, and communication networks.
About 3.1 million people have been displaced, according to regional officials, with 200,000 of them residing on government-run improvised shelters on raised embankments or other hills.
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