Worst floods in decades kill dozens in Bangladesh
BANGLADESH: Heavy rain caused further havoc in the Bangladesh
port city of Chittagong on Tuesday where rescuers have recovered at
least 91 bodies with more feared missing following the biggest storm in
decades.
Officials and witnesses said the deaths were caused mostly by
landslides and the collapse of ramshackle dwellings in the city of
nearly 5 million.
The flooding was so extensive that survivors were having difficulty
finding dry ground to bury the dead, officials said.
“It looks like we are living in a ghost city,” one rescuer said on
Monday night. “Never before in my life have I confronted such a
calamity,” said another.
Elsewhere in the country, rain and flash floods killed at least 15
people, disaster management officials said.
Some rivers had swollen beyond danger levels, including the Khowai in
northeastern Habiganj where bank erosion made hundreds of families
homeless.
Millions living on the banks of other rivers were also threatened and
the prospect for relief looked bleak with more rain forecast across the
country — particularly in hardest-hit Chittagong and other hilly areas.
Most Chittagong roads were under water on Tuesday while trains and
flights to and from the city were suspended for a second day. Port
business was also hampered. “The disaster caught us unawares,” said
Mokhlesur Rahman, Chittagong’s divisional commissioner.
Meteorological officials said the rain marked the onset of the annual
monsoon season — which lasts until mid-September — but was unusually
heavy because of the influence of a storm in the Bay of Bengal.
Dhaka, Tuesday, Reuters |