As more floods batter Bangladesh and India, death toll rises to 30

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Floods wreaked more havoc in India’s northeast and neighboring Bangladesh’s eastern region, raising this week’s total death toll to 30, officials and media reports said Friday.

Rain stopped in many parts of Bangladesh on Friday and weather officials in Dhaka said the waters had started receding in some areas, but said the flooding would not be over for days.

In India’s Tripura state, eight more people died in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 19 since Monday, said a state disaster management official on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media. Earlier, 11 people were reported dead.

In Bangladesh, seven more people died in the last 24 hours, Dhaka-based Ekhon TV reported Friday. Earlier, four deaths were reported in raging waters flooding downstream from India, and amid incessant rains in the country’s eastern region.

Bangladeshi non-government organization BRAC said in a statement that up to 3 million people remained stranded as fast-moving water inundated vast areas of farmland, destroying livelihoods, homes, and crops. It said many remained without electricity, food or water. Other media reports said up to 4.5 million people have been affected in the delta nation of 170 million people.

A number of charity groups have called for help, with a student group collecting dry food, cash, water and medicines at Dhaka University in the nation’s capital.

In the Indian state of Tripura, authorities said around 100,000 people took shelter in over 400 relief camps, as the floods affected 1.7 million people in eight districts of the state. Chief Minister Manik Saha undertook an aerial survey to assess the situation.

Liakath Ali, BRAC’s director of Climate Change, Urban