Swelling rivers in Bangladesh engulfed hundreds more villages and towns in the north and east on Tuesday, displacing about a million people as heavy rain battered the lush croplands.
At least 67 people were either drowned or swept away from the flooded hamlets by the swirling water in the past three days, sources in the disaster management office said.
Renewed flooding washed away parts of a dam on the Gumti river in the eastern Comilla district inundating about 80 villages and forcing 500 farming families to leave for high ground.
Incessant rains triggered by an active Monsoon pushed six rivers including the Gumti in the eastern region above the danger mark with water overflowing into muddy homesteads, damaging rice fields and disrupting road links.
About 50 000 people in the eastern rice growing hinterland were evacuated to safe shelters after the Kankri river dam gave in to the pressure of the surging water.
The northern Rangpur region came under the spell of tropical flooding since Sunday after the two major rivers — the Teesta and the Dharala — burst their fragile banks.
About 7 000 people in two small towns in the region have been stranded in their flooded homes. Most of the deaths occurred in the south-eastern hilly region where landslides touched off by torrential rains buried many shanty dwellers alive. – Sapa-DPA