DHAKA, 13 July 2004 — The death toll from rain driven floods rampaging through Bangladesh rose to 34 yesterday, while three million people were marooned on thousands of islands created by the worst deluge in 16 years, rescuers said.
Heavy monsoon showers lashed the northern and eastern regions late Sunday, flooding new areas in the worst hit Sylhet province, which borders India’s northeastern Assam state.
Ten deaths caused by drowning in the swirling waters were reported from Sylhet, while three children living on the roof of their engulfed straw hut succumbed to snake bites in northern Kurigram district, adding to the overnight death toll of 21 due to flood related accidents.
The government’s Disaster Management Office yesterday said seasonal floods had engulfed almost 23 out of 64 administrative districts, putting nearly one-fourth of the country under water.
Water gushing down the hills from the upstream Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya, which were also pummeled by the tropical downpours, swelled the Brahmaputra and Surma rivers in Bangladesh, inundating muddy villages, rice plains, fish farms and rural roads in northern Bangladesh.
The national Flood Warning and Monitoring Center said if heavy tropical showers sparked by monsoon cloudbursts continue through the week, flood waters were likely to reach the city limits of the capital Dhaka.
Rescuers were struggling to reach thousands of families stranded on isolated hamlets across the flooded countryside without fresh water and food, relief officials said.
Over a million people, displaced from their submerged homes in the most battered Sylhet province, moved to higher ground seeking shelter on embankments and in empty school buildings and closed local government offices.
Bangladeshi officials warned that the floods could deteriorate in the next two or three days, reaching the levels of 1988 when three-fourths of the country went under water, if the three major rivers, Ganges, Meghna and Brahmaputra, continued to rise simultaneously.
Recurrent floods have caused serious damage to agriculture — the economic mainstay of the densely populated and impoverished country. Estimated losses in the floods will run into the millions of dollars, according to reports.
A spokesman for the state-run railways said train services were disrupted in the inundated districts as parts of the railroad were washed away by the deluge.
Authorities in southern Chittagong city warned incoming ships to avoid a flooded river channel for approaching the port.
The monsoons’ first serious flooding in June left 19 people dead and some 100,000 homeless in Bangladesh.
