Deadly floods impact millions in Bangladesh and northeast India

This screengrab taken from a video shows flooding in Noakhali district, Bangladesh, on August 21, 2024. Joy Bhuiyan

New Delhi/Cumilla, Bangladesh, August 23 - 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.

Nearly 3 million people have been affected by the flooding in Bangladesh, which has plunged hundreds of homes underwater, leaving residents stranded on rooftops, the country’s Disaster Management ministry said.

At least 11 people have died in the Indian state of Tripura and two people have died in Bangladesh, according to official data on Thursday. In Tripura, more than 64,000 people are seeking shelter in relief camps, the state’s emergency operation center said.

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.

“We don’t expect people to be able to return home anytime soon,” she said, adding the rain is easing but water levels can only recede after the rainfall stops.

Kazi Piash, a 24-year-old Feni resident, said he took shelter on his rooftop after the floods came up to his neck.

“We’ve constructed a makeshift tent on the roof with tarpaulin but there’s about 40 of us on the roofs of two one-story homes,” Piash said, adding the group included his pregnant sister-in-law.

“We have been on the roof for hours, my body is shivering, our phones also won’t have a battery for long, so we need to get help quick,” he said.

Videos showed residents paddling in canoes and swimming with their belongings through muddied streams, as floodwaters lapped at the roofs of homes.

This screengrab taken from a video shows flooding in Noakhali district, Bangladesh on August 21, 2024. Joy Bhuiyan

‘This came from India’

Residents living near the Gomati River in the city of Cumilla fear the floodwaters will submerge their community within hours.

Some told CNN that the rice paddies surrounding the river have been submerged and that the water has risen 10 meters (30 feet) higher than normal – meaning it is now only a few feet from surging over the flood levee protecting their homes.

Nazma Akther, 35, fears her home right next to the levee will be flooded overnight. She is considering evacuating with her two daughters and son but has nowhere to go. Local Madrassa students and farmers are desperately trying to fortify the levee with sticks of bamboo, leaves and sand delivered by tractors and small trucks.

Multiple residents told CNN they blame India for the flood. Much of Bangladesh comprises deltas from the Himalayan rivers, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, which flow from India through Bangladesh towards the sea.

“(Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi is totally responsible for this. They always try to harm us,” said Mozammel, a 21-year-old student who declined to give his last name.

Shariful Islam, a 47-year-old resident who has lived in the area for 25 years, said: “This flood came from India, because India opened the dam. If this water goes over, it will flood the whole area and Cumilla city.”

India’s Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the accusations that the flooding was due to the forced opening of a dam on the Gomati River, which flows through Tripura and enters Bangladesh through the district of Comilla. It said the floods had been caused by the “heaviest rains of this year over the last few days.”

“We have seen concerns being expressed in Bangladesh that the current situation of flood in districts on the eastern borders of Bangladesh has been caused by opening of the Dumbur dam upstream of the Gumti River in Tripura. This is factually not correct,” it said in a statement.

However, the statement admitted that “there was a power outage” in Tripura state, which it said led to “problems of communications,” without providing further details.

Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma has said the release of water into Bangladesh was “automatic,” triggered by the high water levels, according to Shafiqul Alam, press secretary to Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.

According to Tripura’s Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath, the dam was designed so that excess water escapes automatically after the water level reaches a certain point.

“No gate has been opened for the Gomati Hydro Electric Project,” Nath posted on X on Wednesday, adding the storage capacity of the reservoir is up to 94 meters (308 feet).

More wet weather is expected across Tripura and eastern Bangladesh, with forecasts of 50 mm to 150 mm (2 to 6 inches) of rain over the next three days.