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photo source: Agerpres.ro

Posted by: Daniela Socolovschi

News / International

15 July 2020 / 09:00

Third of Bangladesh underwater as monsoon drenches region

Almost four million people have been hit by monsoon floods in South Asia, officials said Tuesday (July 14), with a third of Bangladesh already underwater from some of the heaviest rains in a decade, AFP reports.

The monsoon - which usually falls from June to September - is crucial to the economy of the Indian sub-continent, but also causes widespread death and destruction across the region each year.

"This is going to be the worst flood in a decade," Bangladesh's Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre chief Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan told AFP.

In north-central Bangladesh, the Brahmaputra river was almost 40cm higher than normal and threatening to burst its banks, district administrator Farook Ahmed told AFP.

Most villagers were trying to stay near their flood-damaged homes, but some 15,000 had fled severely affected areas, officials said.

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