Bangladesh has deployed troops to help two million people stranded for the second time in weeks by massive monsoon floods, authorities said on Friday.
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Floods regularly threaten millions of people in low-lying Bangladesh.
But, according to experts, climate change is increasing their frequency, severity and suddenness.
Much of the northeast of the country is under water and the situation could worsen over the weekend as forecasts call for further heavy rains.
End-of-year exams have been suspended in high schools across the country, where hundreds of classrooms are now being used as makeshift shelters for those whose homes are submerged in water.
Run away from the rising water
“
The situation is very worrying
,” Sylhet region administration official Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain told AFP.
"
More than two million people are now trapped by the floods
."
"
People have taken refuge on their boats
", he added, "
we have deployed the army and are trying to evacuate them
".
According to Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain, the soldiers are going door to door in the affected rural towns and helping residents flee the rising water.
Heavy rains, which started last week in Bangladesh and parts of neighboring India, swelled overflowing rivers, said Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan, from the National Flood Forecasting and Warning Center, a government agency. .
The level of the Surma River, he added, is one meter above normal.
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“
These floods are among the worst in the region's history.
The situation will deteriorate in the next three days
,” he warned.
Most of the area is currently without electricity and internet, Sylhet-based Bangladeshi journalist Mamun Hossain told AFP.
In May, the Sylhet region was hit by the worst flooding in almost two decades, killing at least ten people and affecting at least four million people.