Millions forced to flee and 1,100 die after heavier than usual monsoon hits south Asia

Monsoon rains whipped the Indian subcontinent yesterday, flooding a wide swath south of the Himalayas and bringing the death toll in recent weeks to more than 1,100, with 19 million people displaced.

Hundreds of miles stretching from the Gangetic plains to the Bangladeshi delta are under water after rivers burst their banks. Most deaths were in central India.

Parts of the northern Indian states of Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have had almost three weeks of rain, swelling rivers, inundating fields and ruining crops. Across the country, 125 people have died in the last few days. In the financial capital, Mumbai, water rose to knee level in the streets. Train services and flights were cancelled.

In recent days 60 people have lost their lives in Bangladesh and flooding and landslides have caused 84 deaths in Nepal. Farming, the lifeline of the mainly rural region, has been severely affected and relief workers have warned that food stocks and drinking water supplies are perilously low.

More than 14 million people in India and 5 million in Bangladesh have been affected. Aid agencies say that health issues are of particular concern with reports of fever, acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea and snake bites.

The Indian army was evacuating people from some of the worst-hit areas, and in many remote regions hundreds of thousands have scrambled on to higher ground, setting up temporary dwellings.
more from Guardian Unlimited