The death toll from rain-driven floods in Bangladesh reached 700 on Sunday as major rivers continued to recede in the northern and central regions of the country leaving behind a trail of destruction, officials said. The national Flood Warning and Monitoring Center said the three major rivers, the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna, and their tributaries were running below the red mark at most monitoring stations across the rain-soaked country. Officials said the drop in the water level would continue. Receding flood waters uncovered a landscape of widespread devastation dotted by shattered homes, washed-out farmlands, broken roads and disrupted rail links, rescue workers said. Unprecedented monsoon downpours over the past three weeks caused swollen rivers to burst their banks, touched off mudslides, forced millions to evacuate and left millions other trapped in their inundated homes by the swirling waters. Government disaster management officials said crop and other property losses in the worst seasonal floods in 16 years would cost seven billion U.S. dollars, a staggering amount for a low-income country with more than 40 per cent of its population of 130 million living in abject poverty. About 30 million people were displaced in three weeks of flooding of more than 24,000 square kilometers in 40 out of 64 administrative districts, official reports said. --more 1443 Local Time 1143 GMT
