Relief operations continued in northern and central Bangladesh on Monday where tens of thousands were left homeless last week after torrential rains sparked floods that killed at least 23 people and left a dozen others missing.
The death toll is expected to rise as the monsoon rains that pounded the northern agricultural hinterland over the past week are set to continue for several more days.
”The search and relief operations are under way for flood-affected people,” Information Minister Shamsul Islam told local reporters in central Munshiganj district, where three members of the same family drowned in the flood waters at the weekend.
Army transports and civilian trucks are taking food, medicines and other supplies to the worst-affected villages, he said.
Heavy rains ruptured the embankments of the Brahmaputra and the Teesta rivers, flooding nearly 500 villages in the northern Rangpur region and destroying homes and croplands.
Rescue workers said at least seven children were washed away from their homes in Rangpur, where more than 50 000 people abandoned their mud and straw huts in a search for shelter on higher ground.
The latest fatalities bring the death toll to 23, disaster management officials said on Monday.
Record levels of rain also swelled rivers around Dhaka, submerging low-lying suburbs of the capital city. — Sapa-DPA