Bangladesh was bracing for further flooding yesterday after large parts of the north were submerged and 1.5 million people marooned by rising waters at the weekend.
Forecasters said they expected more low-lying areas to be inundated over the next few days, the official news agency BSS said.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Center said heavy monsoonal rains and gushing water from streams and smaller rivers to the north were likely to cause more flooding in the northeastern Sylhet and Sunamganj districts and the northern Netrokona district.
It added that all major rivers were flowing above the danger level and that the Surma river in the northeast was rising sharply.
Meanwhile, 12 people including a family of seven were seriously injured in a landslide in southeastern Bangladesh, BSS said.
The landslide took place late on Sunday in a village near Bandarban, 248km from the capital Dhaka. The injured were being treated in hospital yesterday.
Eight people were reported killed at the weekend in flood-related accidents, while officials said 1.5 million people had been left stranded by the floodwaters in the northeast and northwest of the country.
They said 100,000 people were sheltering in temporary centers set up in schools and other buildings.
The remaining 1.4 million are believed to have stayed in their flood-stricken villages.
Flooding has also forced more than 2 million people from homes in northeastern India, officials said yesterday.
Floodwaters have swept away thousands of bamboo and straw homes, as well as power lines and more than two dozen small dams.
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