Historic Monsoon flooding in Bangladesh displace millions and kill dozens

At least 32 dead and millions displaced amid historic monsoon flooding in Bangladesh.

Officials are scrambling to help the mass of people forced from their homes in a country swamped by torrential rains as dry food and drinking water slowly run out.

Dozens of people are dead, and millions of homes have flooded after days of monsoon downpours caused catastrophic flooding in Bangladesh, authorities said.

A wide swath of the country has been impacted by the disaster, forcing mass evacuations - up to 100,000 people in the hardest-hit areas - while millions have been left stranded, according to The Associated Press.

At least 32 people have been killed since the monsoon rains began late last week, Reuters reported. About 4 million people were marooned in the northeastern Sylhet administrative division in Bangladesh, which is about a quarter of its population.

"The flooding is the worst in 122 years in the Sylhet region," Atiqul Haque, director general of Bangladesh's Department of Disaster Management, told Reuters, adding that a dozen districts in the north and northeast had been swamped by floods.

Assam state officials said about 200,000 people have been taken to makeshift shelters in 700 relief camps as all major rivers in Assam swelled well above danger levels, according to the AP. The Brahmaputra River, which runs nearly 800 km (500 miles) from Tibet and into Bangladesh and India, also overflowed, flooding millions of homes and cutting transport links.

Overall, nearly 6 million people have been displaced due to the floods, the news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported.

"There has been a persistent upper-level disturbance in the northern Bay of Bengal. This feature feeding on the extremely moist air flowing north into Bangladesh has resulted in rounds of heavy rains and thunderstorms and widespread flooding," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Bowers. "Chittagong Patenga (on the coast) has received 8.5 inches of rain in the last three days while Veat (further inland) has received 8 inches in the same time period and 17.8 inches so far this month or more than two-and-a-half times normal."

Scientists have warned that flooding in Bangladesh has worsened over the years due to climate change, according to the AP. A United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change poll said about 17% of Bangladesh's population will need to be relocated over the next decade if global warming continues at its current rate.