New floods hit Bangladesh

DHAKA (AFP) — More than 100,000 Bangladeshis have been displaced or marooned, some for the second time in as many months, after heavy rains brought fresh floods to the country, officials said Sunday.

Thousands of villages in the north of the delta nation were inundated at the weekend, many of them after being hit by the devastating floods of late July and early August, officials said.

In Sirajganj district, among the worst hit by the first spell of flooding, a surge of water from rivers overflowing their banks displaced or marooned tens of thousands, district administrator Ibrahim Khalil said.

"Some 7,000 people have already taken shelter at government relief centres. It's just weeks since many of them returned home. They have planted paddy (rice) afresh in the land only to see flood water submerging them again," he said.

The toll since the start of monsoon rains in June stands at 959, including deaths from water-borne sickness, snake bites and landslides as well as drowning.

At least 10.5 million people have been displaced or marooned by the floods.

The country's flood centre said two major Himalayan rivers that empty into the Bay of Bengal through Bangladesh -- the Brahamputra and the Ganges -- had risen alarmingly in tandem.

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