Flash floods caused by heavy rains killed five people and forced about 2,000 villagers from their inundated homes in northeastern Bangladesh, officials and news reports said Thursday. Three children and two men drowned Tuesday and Wednesday in hard-hit Moulvibazar district, 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of the capital, Dhaka, a relief official said on condition of anonymity. About 2,000 villagers were forced to take shelter on an embankment in Moulvibazar after the rain-swollen Monu River swamped their houses, Dhaka's Ittefaq newspaper said. Three days of torrential rains caused floods in Moulvibazar and neighboring Habiganj district, marooning up to 100,000 people, relief officials in the region said. The stranded people have been forced to rely on boats for transportation. Three overflowing rivers in the region burst through mud embankments, swamping more than 200 villages.
