In India, at least 48 people have died since June 14, after heavy rains battered the northeastern state of Assam, according to its disaster management authority, triggering landslides. land and causing river banks to swell. More than 5.5 million people have been affected in the state alone, the authority added.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday visited one of 1,687 relief camps, housing more than 260,000 displaced people in the state.
In the neighboring state of Meghalaya, at least 25 people have died since June 9, 11 are still missing and 22 others injured, according to state officials.
Video shown on local television showed residents of affected towns wading waist-deep in muddy water and streets turned into rivers, with vehicles submerged under water.
In neighboring Bangladesh, flood-related incidents including electrocutions and landslides have killed at least 22 people, officials said.
According to UNICEF, as many as 4 million people, including 1.6 million children, have been stranded by the flash floods.
“Children need clean water right now. Prevention of deadly water-borne diseases is one of the main concerns,” Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh, said in a statement on Monday.
The downpour caused catastrophic flooding in the northeastern region of Sylhet, local officials said.
“The floods are the worst in 122 years in the Sylhet region,” Atiqul Haque, director general of Bangladesh’s Department of Disaster Management, told Reuters on Monday.
Health facilities were flooded in Sylhet, while children were at increased risk of drowning, according to UNICEF.
More than 36,000 children sought refuge in overcrowded shelters, along with their families, UNICEF said.
Schools were forced to close and exams were cancelled, further impacting their education after months of closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, he added.
CNN’s Esha Mitra contributed reporting.
