Heavy rains triggered landslides that buried homes, killing 71 people and leaving scores of others missing in the port city of Chittagong, police and witnesses said.
Some 70 others were admitted to hospitals with injuries while nearly 100 more are missing, rescuers and Chittagong district officials said.
"We are facing a hell of a situation here," one rescuer said by telephone. "It's still heavily raining, and visibility has sharply declined. Roads are all under water," one rescuer said. "We are facing huge difficulty in trying to help the victims," said another rescue official.
The worst-hit area was a congested shantytown near a military area in Chittagong, where large chunks of hill collapsed and buried dozens of bamboo and straw shacks. Army rescuers pulled out at least 35 bodies from the debris, Shahidul Islam, a city official said.
Five members of a family died when the walls of their brick home collapsed in heavy rain on the Chittagong University campus, Nasir Ahmed, a fire brigade officer manning a control center, said.
Ahmed said rescuers pulled out 15 bodies from the remnants of a hilly slum on land belonging to Bangladesh Railways. Six others died in another hillside slum near a power station, he added.
Four others, including a young mother and her toddler, were killed when the walls of their houses collapsed, and a policeman was electrocuted when he stepped on a snapped electric wire, the officer said.
Emergency workers managed to rescue more than 50 injured people from the rubble in the affected areas, he added.
About 100 residents of a posh hilltop residential area were trapped in their homes as rainwater and mud blocked nearby roads, he said. Flash floods and inundated roads were hampering rescue efforts and traffic in the city of 4 million, 220 kilometres (135 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka. Many schools and businesses were forced to close for the day.
About 214 millimetres (8.4 inches) of rain fell in just three hours early today, the local weather bureau said. But the rains had eased by late today.
Many residents said the rainfall and flooding were among the worst in memory.
"I have never seen so much water in my life," said Mofizur Rahman, 75, who has lived near the city's main hospital, Chittagong Medical College Hospital, for 45 years.
The downtown area, including the ground floor of the hospital, were submerged under 1.2 metres (four feet) of water, he said.
Activities were also halted at the country's main port in the city on the Bay of Bengal, port authorities said.
Several factories in an industrial belt around the city were also flooded, stopping production and causing extensive damage to machinery, said M.A. Mohiuddin, whose textile mill makes goods for export.
The city's telephone, television and radio networks were also interrupted as transmission stations were flooded.
Government and charity agencies distributed food and water to about 1,000 people left homeless by the calamity, the area's government administrator Mukhlesur Rahman said.
In neighboring Feni district, rain-swollen rivers flooded 15 farming villages, leaving at least 55,000 people marooned, CSB television station reported.
No casualties were reported in the floods in Feni, 128 kilometere (80 miles) east of capital Dhaka, the station said.
Heavy monsoon rains - the highest recorded in seven years - also inundated parts of the capital and other regions of the country over the weekend.
In Dhaka, many busy roads and residential areas were flooded Sunday, stranding commuters and residents and forcing businesses, schools and many offices to stay shut.
Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation of 144 million people, is prone to seasonal floods and cyclones.
Source : www.dailymail.co.uk
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