• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home Sci-tech

Monsoon rains wreaking flood havoc across South Asia

16 July 2019, 10:07 AM  |
AFP AFP |  @SABCNews
SABC-News-monsoon-AFP.png

At least five children drowned in Bangladesh Monday, taking the toll in the country to 34, including 18 hit by lightning and seven who drowned after their boat capsized in choppy waters in the Bay of Bengal

SABC-News-monsoon-AFP.png

Image: AFP

At least five children drowned in Bangladesh Monday, taking the toll in the country to 34, including 18 hit by lightning and seven who drowned after their boat capsized in choppy waters in the Bay of Bengal

Torrential monsoon rains swept away homes and triggered landslides across South Asia, affecting millions of people and claiming at least 180 lives, officials said Tuesday.

The monsoon is crucial for irrigation and groundwater supplies in the impoverished region – home to a fifth of the world’s population – and bring relief after the unforgiving summers.

But the downpours – which stretch from June to September – can turn deadly and have wreaked havoc again this year across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, with people, dwellings and boats in remote low-lying areas washed away.

At least five children drowned in Bangladesh on Monday, taking the toll in the country to 34, including 18 hit by lightning and seven who drowned after their boat capsized in choppy waters in the Bay of Bengal.

Hundreds of thousands have been marooned by floodwater in the country’s north, with one of the major Himalayan rivers, the Brahmaputra, over a metre (40 inches) above the “danger level”, officials said.

In Nepal, at least 67 people have died although flood waters have started receding. Images showed rescuers using inflatable dinghies to evacuate families trapped in flooded houses.

Health experts have warned of possible outbreaks of waterborne diseases and called for international help.

Nearly 50 people have been killed in India, with two eastern states – Assam and Bihar, which borders Nepal – bearing the brunt of the deluge.

Authorities in Assam declared a red alert Monday as the flood situation turned critical, with villages cut off by surging waters and a major highway submerged.

Photos showed residents crammed in boats carrying their belongings to safer areas in Morigaon, one of the worst-affected districts, and just the roofs of submerged homes above water.

So far 11 people have died in the state and some 83,000 people displaced by flooding.

Authorities also scrambled to reach animals marooned by the deluge at the state’s World-Heritage listed Kaziranga National Park, which is home to two-thirds of the world’s one-horned rhinos.

In Bihar, 24 deaths were reported, with 2.5 million residents affected.

Among the dead were three children who drowned as they went to check the rising water level in a canal. Two others died while playing near a ditch filled with floodwater, the Press Trust of India reported.

Further northwest, in the Pakistan-administered part of the Kashmir region, flash floods killed 23 people and damaged 120 houses, with the water and power supplies crippled.

The United Nations said Monday it “stands ready to work with the authorities in the affected countries as they respond to the humanitarian needs resulting from this on-going monsoon season”.

Share article
Tags: South AsiaMonsoon
Previous Post

WATCH: PIC Inquiry

Next Post

First woman to referee in Australia’s scandal-plagued NRL

Related Posts

Shell petrol station

Activist group accuses Shell of misleading investors on renewables

1 February 2023, 3:40 PM
Researchers studying the BCG vaccine for tuberculosis test samples in a laboratory run by South African biotech company TASK in Cape Town, South Africa, May 11, 2020.

SA admitted to a prestigious international science program

1 February 2023, 8:53 AM
File Image: Hospital bed in a ward.

Gauteng Health battles with surgical backlogs

1 February 2023, 6:10 AM
A member of the Incident Management Team coordinates the search for a radioactive capsule that was lost in transit by a contractor hired by Rio Tinto, at the Emergency Services Complex in Cockburn, Australia, in this undated handout photo. Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

Australian nuclear body joins search for missing radioactive capsule

31 January 2023, 10:13 AM
A man wearing a protective face mask walks past an illustration of a virus outside a regional science centre amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Oldham, Britain August 3, 2020.

WHO maintains highest alert over COVID, but sees hope ahead

30 January 2023, 7:18 PM
FILE PHOTO: Smoke billows from the chimneys of Belchatow Power Station in Poland, Europe's biggest coal-fired power plant, in this May 7, 2009.

Prof Marwala urges leaders to address challenges posed by climate change

30 January 2023, 6:42 PM
Next Post
SABC-News-Rugby-League-referee-Belinda-Sharpe-AFP

First woman to referee in Australia's scandal-plagued NRL

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • Registration at Unisa closes on Friday, but management says no need to panic
  • Gas leak shut, isolated in Pretoria North
  • King of Bacardi music ‘Vusi Ma R5’ killed in Soshanguve
  • Committee wants to halt planned demolition of North West hospital
  • Bapedi kingdom commemorates Kgosi Mampuru II, still hoping to find his remains
  • Parts of the Northern Cape to be exempted from rolling blackouts
  • VIDEO | St Benedict College’s Matric learner gets 11 distinctions
  • Limpopo matriculant from child-headed household attains diploma pass
  • Female circumcision practice thriving in Eastern Cape
  • Registration at Unisa closes on Friday, but management says no need to panic
  • DA wins cadre deployment case against ANC
  • Zimbabwean embassy in SA to launch bid for the return of Zimbabwean Exemption Permit holders
  • Mashatile set to become MP
  • Helping Zimbabwean permit holders not a political ploy: Ambassador
  • LIVE: EFF leader Julius Malema and bodyguard back in court

LATEST

  • Politics

LIVE | EFF leader Julius Malema and his bodyguard Adriaan Snyman back in court: Day 5


(File Image) Crayfish tails worth an estimated R1.1 million confiscated in Vredenburg in March 11, 2022.
  • South Africa

Three nabbed for possession of crayfish worth millions


View of the Council Chambers for the Ekurhuleni Metro.
  • Politics

EFF takes over Speaker position in Ekurhuleni


A child walking while holding a candle during the rolling blackouts.
  • Eskom rolling blackouts
  • Business

Eskom reduces rolling blackouts to stage four


EFF leader Julius Malema addresses supporters outside East London Magistrates Court, February 2. 2023.
  • Politics

Malema won’t take recusal application dismissal on review


ANC members holding the party's flag.
  • Politics

ANC to appeal cadre deployment ruling


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2023

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous Dan Matjila WATCH: PIC Inquiry
Next SABC-News-Rugby-League-referee-Belinda-Sharpe-AFP First woman to referee in Australia’s scandal-plagued NRL