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| Monday, 12 July 2004 |
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Bangladesh floods maroon 3 million, death toll 13 DHAKA, Sunday (Reuters) Incessant rain swelled flood waters that have covered large areas of Bangladesh, hampering efforts on Sunday to rescue three million people marooned by rising waters and raising the death toll to 13. Two children died after they were bitten by snakes floating in the roiling waters in northern Kurigram area, officials said. The northeastern town of Sylhet at the centre of the worst-hit district lay under 60 cms (two feet) of water and neighbouring Sunamganj district was inundated by the Surma and Kushiara rivers, local officials said. Road links between Sylhet and Sunamganj were severed and the railway between Sylhet and Akhaura was threatened by the floods. More rain was forecast in the next few days and could flood areas around the capital, Dhaka, weather officials said. Floods now covered nearly 20 of the 64 administrative districts of Bangladesh, leaving up to 3 million people marooned, disaster management officials said. Thousands of families had sought refuge on roads and embankments as well as in schools, government buildings and boats after the floods forced them to abandon homes. Relief and rescue operations have yet to start in many areas. "We have enough relief goods but it is difficult to reach people in remote villages due to bad weather and a shortage of boats," said relief official M. Mostafa Kamal. Most of Bangladesh sits astride the deltas of a series of large rivers flowing from the Himalayas and about a third of the country floods every year during the monsoon. Many people are landless and are forced to live and farm on flood-prone land. Floods kill hundreds and make thousands homeless every year. Most rivers including the Jamuna, Brahmaputra, Meghna and Padma were above danger levels. Officials said some had burst their banks while others were poised to do so. Chittagong port authorities on Saturday asked ships not to enter a flooded channel in the Bay of Bengal. Ships could be in danger because of turbulence in the Karnaphuli river channel. Agriculture officials said it was too early to assess damage to crops. Meanwhile At least 40 people packed into a wooden boat drowned in northeastern India after torrential annual rains and swollen rivers set off floods that have left millions homeless, officials said on Sunday. The villagers, including many women and children, were trying to escape to higher ground in the state of Assam on Saturday night when their boat capsized. There were no survivors, a police official said All rivers in tea and oil-rich Assam, including the main Brahmaputra, are overflowing after incessant rains in the past week. "More than two million people have become homeless because of floods," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told Reuters. Military helicopters and soldiers in motor boats were trying to rescue thousands of people marooned across the state, he said. Floods in Assam caused by heavy rains that lash the state for about seven months from April to October bring death and destruction each year. A breach in a dam in Tsatitsu lake in the neighbouring nation of Bhutan had swollen the floods in Assam, a flood control official said. Flood waters have inundated highways and railway tracks and washed away several bridges in western Assam, said S. R. Islam, a senior flood control official. |
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