Dhaka: Severe monsoon rains and flooding have left nearly three million people stranded in Bangladesh and claimed two lives, according to officials from the country’s disaster management ministry. The floods have submerged extensive areas, damaging homes and infrastructure.
Residents in affected regions have been seen evacuating via boat and other makeshift means as floodwaters have inundated their homes. Footage from Reuters TV highlighted the struggle as knee-deep water forced many to leave their belongings behind.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) has issued a warning about the potential for further increases in water levels over the next 24 hours, raising concerns about additional flooding and displacement. The flooding has severed road connectivity in several areas, isolating communities and complicating relief efforts.
The hardest-hit districts include Feni, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Comilla, and Chittagong, where five major rivers are flowing above dangerous levels, according to the FFWC. “I haven’t seen so much water in the last 20 years. Everything in my house is wrecked because the water has risen to waist level,” said Mohammad Masum, a resident of Feni district.
In a 2015 analysis, the World Bank Institute estimated that 3.5 million people in Bangladesh, a nation highly vulnerable to climate change, are at risk of annual river flooding. Scientists link the intensification of such events to climate change.
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In Dhaka, students staged protest rallies late Wednesday, blaming the floods on the opening of dam sluice gates in neighboring India. India’s foreign ministry refuted these claims, stating that the floods were not caused by water released from the Dumbur dam on the Gumti River in Tripura. “We would like to point out that the catchment areas of Gumti River that flows through India and Bangladesh have witnessed the heaviest rains of this year over the last few days,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday. “The flood in Bangladesh is primarily due to waters from these large catchments downstream of the dam.”
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In Tripura, twelve fatalities have been reported due to landslides and floods caused by the relentless rain over the past three days, according to Suman Deb, an Indian disaster management official. “The impact has been devastating and rescue operations are ongoing,” Deb said.
India’s Home Minister, Amit Shah, announced on X that the federal government has dispatched disaster management teams, along with boats and helicopters, to assist the state government in Tripura. “Floods on the common rivers between India and Bangladesh are a shared problem inflicting suffering on both sides and require close mutual cooperation to resolve,” said India’s foreign ministry.
