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Bangladesh: Floods - Jul 1998

Status
Past
Countries
Bangladesh
Disaster types
Flood

The onset of the monsoon in June triggered flash floods in the north and in July torrential rains brought further floods in south-eastern districts, causing widespread damage. The situation worsened from mid-July onwards as continuous rainfall in the great river catchment areas outside Bangladesh led to sharp rises in the water levels in most of the rivers flowing into the Jamuna (Brahmaputra), Meghna, and Padma (Ganges) basins. Crop lands, human habitats, roads, and even railway lines were inundated in district after district. Millions have been rendered homeless. Low-lying areas of Dhaka are under water and scores of villages along river banks have been engulfed by the floods. (IFRC, 17 Aug 1998)

The damage caused by the unusually prolonged floods was very extensive. Currently, the number of districts affected stands at 45 (out of a total of 64). The number of people affected by the floods is estimated at over 24 million, with 360 deaths reported due to drowning, snake bites and diseases. WHO has reported a widespread outbreak of water-borne diseases. Scores of villages along the riverbanks of the three major basins of Brahmaputra, Meghna and Padma and their tributaries have been engulfed by the floods. 353,000 houses have reportedly been destroyed, and 1.2 million damaged. The floods have also caused widespread damage to agriculture, spread over an area of 800,000 hectares of crops, and infrastructure, with 9,160 km of roads damaged, over 6,500 bridges and culverts washed away and 1,800 schools being affected, according to the Central Control Room of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief. (OCHA, 26 Aug 1998)