Monsoon foods kill 15 people, maroon over 4.5 million in Bangladesh

Flash floods in Bangladesh cause devastation, with 15 dead and millions affected, amid political turmoil and climate change impacts.

Flash floods wrought havoc in Bangladesh on Friday (August 23, 2024) as the country recovered from weeks of political upheaval, with the death toll rising to 15 and millions more caught in the deluge.

Also Read: 55 killed in Bangladesh floods in August: officials

The South Asian nation of 170 million people, crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has seen frequent floods in recent decades.

Monsoon rains cause widespread destruction every year, but climate change is shifting weather patterns and increasing the number of extreme weather events.

"It's a catastrophic situation here," rescue volunteer Zahed Hossain Bhuiya (35) told AFP from the worst-hit city of Feni. "We are trying to rescue as many people as we can."

Nur Islam, a shopkeeper in Feni, said his home had been completely submerged.

"Everything is underwater," the 60-year-old said.