More than 50,000 people fled flooded homes while several thousand were stranded in the swirling waters in eastern and northern Bangladesh Saturday as monsoons swelled local rivers, according to DPA. Rescuers said six people were drowned in the Bahulia River as they tried to escape in a boat near the northern jute trading town of Sirajganj. Tropical rainstorms lashed the pristine valleys of the Bandarban hill district, 290 kilometres south of Dhaka, forcing the local Sangu River to overspill banks and uprooting 5,000 indigenous people from their traditional fragile dwellings. "Troops from the nearby garrison joined hands with civil defence volunteers in a combined operation to reach food and medical help to the flood-stricken people," said district commissioner Mohammad Shawkat Akbar. Akbar said he had requested for extra shelter materials, dry food and safe water from the disaster management ministry in Dhaka. Road links between eastern Feni district and the rest of the country were cut off Friday as many culverts were washed away by the floodwaters of the Muhuri which Bangladesh and India share. Bangladesh's Water Resources Board claimed the extra water in the river across the border in India's eastern Tripura state touched off flooding in the frontier areas of Comilla district. The Teesta which has been flowing above the danger mark threatened flash floods in the northern Rangpur region. The major river in the north set off mudslides eroding homes and farmlands on the banks.
