Eleven million people hit by flooding in Bangladesh

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2004

DHAKA, (AFP) — More than 11 million people out of Bangladesh's 140 million population have now been affected by seasonal floods.

Official news agency BSS said half the country's districts are partly or completely flooded and that 57 people had died since floods hit on July 10, although officials have confirmed 69 deaths to AFP and media reports put the toll at over 90.

Crops on some 104,000 hectares (260,000 acres) of land have been destroyed by the flooding, BSS added.

Meanwhile, the northeast's main airport at Sylhet remained closed Wednesday due to the flooding of its runways, and more low ground around the capital Dhaka was submerged, media reports said.

At least 20 percent of low-lying Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, floods...