Dhaka, July 06: Swollen rivers inundated low-lying areas around Bangladesh's capital today, as the country's death toll from a weeklong deluge rose to 77. In the latest deaths, seven people drowned yesterday, six of them children.
Monsoon-fed flood waters running down from the north have swollen rivers that encircle Dhaka, the capital city of 10 million people, the flood forecasting and warning center said.
At least 50,000 people living in the low-lying outskirts of Dhaka have been hit by the deluge, which flooded flimsy huts and streets and disrupted transportation, relief officials said on condition of anonymity.
Yesterday, four children and a woman drowned in flood waters in Rajbari district, 70 kilometres west of Dhaka, government officials said, and two children were washed away by surging flood waters in Nilphamari district, 290 kilometres to the north.
Monsoon rains have battered Bangladesh for more than a week, and many of the 77 people who have died have been children.
About 25 of the country's 64 districts have been flooded and nearly 1.5 million people are marooned, officials said. Many villagers have lost rice crops, livestock and flimsy houses.
Schools have closed in some northern areas so they can be used as shelters for flood victims. About 30,000 villagers left homeless by the floods have camped in schools or on mud embankments. Bureau Report