Deadly floods impact hundreds of thousands in Bangladesh and northeast India

New Delhi CNN —

Rescuers are scrambling to evacuate flooded communities after heavy rains inundated parts of Bangladesh and northeast India, causing rivers on both sides of the border to reach extreme levels.

More than 300,000 people in southeastern Bangladesh have been impacted by the flooding, which has plunged hundreds of homes underwater, leaving residents stranded on rooftops, a local official told CNN on Thursday.

In India, at least eight people were killed by landslides and drowning, while tens of thousands have sought shelter in relief camps, according to disaster management authorities.

Heavy flooding and mudslides have killed hundreds, displaced millions and wrecked infrastructure across South Asia in recent months. While floods are common in the region during monsoon season,scientists say the human-caused climate crisis has exacerbated extreme weather events and made them more deadly.

Parts of India’s northeast border state of Tripura and districts in eastern Bangladesh have recorded heavy rainfall of up to nearly 200 millimeters (about 8 inches) in recent days, which has caused perilous floodwaters to rise.

As of Thursday, Bangladesh’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said 11 rivers in the region recorded water levels above the “danger level.”

In the hard-hit Feni district of Chattogram, a city in southeast Bangladesh, efforts are underway to rescue people from waterlogged homes and to shelter the displaced.

Army and navy personnel are evacuating people by boat with the help of volunteers, said Musammat Shahina Akter, a senior official in Feni.

Government buildings and high schools have been converted into shelters, and more than 25,000 people are sheltering in relief camps, Akter said.

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