Today's Edition
Guwahati (AFP)
Torrential rains and surging rivers across northeast India and neighbouring Bangladesh have killed at least nine people, disaster officials said on Thursday, with more than three million people affected.
Disaster authorities in India’s northeastern state of Assam said eight people had died over the past day, taking the death toll due to the downpours since mid-May to 46.
Some 2,800 villages in the state have been submerged, affecting over 1.6 million people, they said.
Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the current situation in the state was due to rain in India’s upstream state of Arunachal Pradesh.
“No human intervention can stop it,” he said.
In low-lying Bangladesh, downstream from India, the disaster management agency said floods had impacted around 1.8 million people.
It warned waters would rise over the next three days.
The summer monsoon brings South Asia 70-80% of its annual rainfall, as well as death and destruction due to flooding and landslides.
The rainfall is hard to forecast and varies considerably, but scientists say climate change is making the monsoon stronger and more erratic.
