Capital awash in Bangladesh flood crisis

Deaths from monsoon rains across south Asia this year reached 1,100 today as residents in Bangladesh’s capital endured its worst flooding in six years, wading through sewage and rowing boats on flooded roads.

The annual monsoon flooding, fed by melting snow and torrential rains, has left millions across south Asia marooned or homeless. At least 686 people have died in India, 102 in Nepal and five in Pakistan, according to reports from officials.

Forty-four new deaths were reported Monday and yesterday in central and northern Bangladesh, raising the number killed in the delta nation to 394.

Most of the deaths were caused by drowning, lightning, poisonous snakes that slither through the water during flooding and outbreaks of water-borne diseases.

The flooding in Dhaka, a city of 10 million people, has not only affected shanty towns built in low-lying areas, but residential neighbourhoods and parts of the central business district.

Holding their belongings over their heads, residents waded through the waist-deep flood waters, which had mixed with sewage and turned blackish and foul-smelling.

Small wooden boats and cycle rickshaws, the only mode of transportation useful in the floods, formed traffic jams. Electrical wires dangled dangerously over some roads.

The floods in Bangladesh are the worst since 1998. They have engulfed two thirds of the country, affecting more than 25 million people. Up to 1.3 million displaced people huddled in about 4,000 flood shelters. Villagers have pitched tents on main roads or mud embankments with their families and cattle.

Authorities repaved streets in parts of Dhaka following devastating floods six years ago, an effort to raise them above flood levels. New houses have been built on pillars or with higher foundations.

But the rising water still entered the ground floor of Mohammad Shaheen’s single storey, brick house a few days ago.

“I had to raise the bed with up to six bricks today, but I could not put bricks under the wardrobe, as it was too heavy to move,” he said. He planned to send his family to his in-laws in the unaffected south-eastern city of Chittagong.

Many Dhaka residents built bamboo bridges from flooded streets to their front doors, and stacked bricks and sand bags at business entrances to keep water out.

Underground reservoirs and gas outlets were inundated, causing shortages of clean water and cooking fuel. Schools were closed, crammed with the homeless. Children swam playfully in the dirty water or cast nets to catch small fish.

About 500 to 600 patients – mostly children – are admitted to clinics each day for diseases related to diarrhoea in Dhaka, doctors say. Many children also suffer from fever, coughs and rashes.

The government said 3,500 medical teams were distributing food, medicine and drinking water to the worst-hit areas.

Last year, 1,500 people died across south Asia during the mid-June to mid-October monsoon.