13 dead, over 4 mn affected by floods in Bangladesh

Dhaka, Aug 23 (IANS) The floods in parts of Bangladesh have left 13 people dead, affected millions of people and displaced many families.

According to the latest daily disaster situation report by the country's National Disaster Response Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, nearly 4.4 million people were affected due to floods in 11 out of the country's total 64 districts, Xinhua news agency reported.

The report said 13 people have died due to flooding in the South Asian country while tens of thousands of families have been affected.Floods and landslides triggered by heavy seasonal rains and an onrush of water from hills across the Indian borders have also caused widespread damage to houses, crops, roads and highways across vast swathes of the country.

Authorities have rushed teams of disaster response forces to carry out rescue operations, distribute relief materials and supervise centres where around 200,000 people have taken shelter.

Rain stopped in many parts of Bangladesh on Friday and weather officials in Dhaka said the waters had started receding in some areas, but said the flooding would not be over for days.In Bangladesh, seven more people died in the last 24 hours, Dhaka-based Ekhon TV reported on Friday.Earlier, four deaths were reported in raging waters flooding downstream from India, and amid incessant rains in the country's eastern region.Bangladeshi non-government organisation BRAC said in a statement that up to three million people remained stranded as fast-moving water inundated vast areas of farmland, destroying livelihoods, homes, and crops.It said many remained without electricity, food or water. Other media reports said up to 4.5 million people have been affected in the delta nation of 170 million people.Several charity groups have called for help, with a student group collecting dry food, cash, water and medicines at Dhaka University in the nation’s capital.Liakath Ali, BRAC’s director of Climate Change, Urban Development and Disaster Risk Management, said that these were the worst floods Bangladesh has seen in three decades.

“Entire villages, all of the families who lived in them, and everything they owned -- homes, livestock, farmlands, fisheries -- have been washed away. People had no time to save anything. There are people stranded across the country, and we are expecting the situation to worsen in many places as rains continue,” he said.

New breaches on a flood protection embankment in the Gomti River in the eastern district of Cumilla inundated about 100 low-lying villages from Thursday midnight, Dhaka-based The Business Standard newspaper reported on Friday. Other districts including Noakhali, Feni and Chattogram were also hard hit.

Volunteers at the scene at Cumilla attempted to alert people to move to safety after the breaches on Thursday midnight, while residents used loudspeakers at neighbourhood mosques to relay warnings.

Some victims in the area told television stations that they had left their belongings behind and rushed to higher ground for safety.

The military used helicopters to ferry relief materials and dry food to affected people on Friday, according to posts on its Facebook page.

In Bangladesh, rumours spread online that the flooding was caused by India opening the Dumbur dam in Tripura, causing several anti-India protests.India's External Affairs Ministry denied the connection, pointing out that the dam is far from the border and that heavy rains had caused major flooding over a wide area in both countries.