Nearly Half of Bangladesh Flooded; South Asia Toll 2,100

Nearly half of Bangladesh was under water Saturday after six days of relentless rain, and the death toll in four weeks of flooding throughout South Asia jumped to 2,100 people.

A total of 316 people were dead and another 6 million homeless or stranded in Bangladesh. The number of victims found or presumed dead in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal passed 1,100. And in India, the number of dead climbed above 700.

At least 30 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts were flooded. The government has not given an estimate of how many people are homeless or how many have died. But local newspapers said 20 million people, or almost one-fifth of Bangladesh’s 111 million population, have been affected.

They include the 6 million who are homeless or marooned and 14 million who have lost relatives, livestock, crops or businesses, according to two newspapers, Banglar Bani and Khabar.

Thousands of troops, relief workers and doctors have fanned out across the flooded areas of Bangladesh.

Residents and emergency workers dumped sandbags and rocks to build up embankments near the northeastern towns of Habiganj and Moulvibazar after the Khowai River passed the danger mark, local officials said.

Flooding is an annual problem for Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world.

In Nepal, rescuers have recovered 564 bodies of people killed in floods and landslides during the last four weeks. Another 539 people are missing and presumed dead and 250,000 are homeless.

Rescuers have not been able to reach most of the devastated areas of Nepal because of impassable mountain roads.

In the worst-hit Sarlahi district of south Nepal, more than 500 people were feared dead after the Bagmati River flooded hundreds of villages and washed away thatched huts belonging to farmers.

The death toll in 10 states in neighboring India is more than 700, including 200 deaths from the eastern state in the last three days.