By AGARTALA, India — Heavy rainfall has triggered floods and landslides in India’s northeastern state of Tripura and neighboring Bangladesh, forcing tens of thousands from their homes and resulting in multiple fatalities, according to local authorities.
In Tripura, disaster management officials report that more than sixty-five thousand people have been displaced, with twenty-three fatalities recorded. The Indian Army has deployed soldiers to assist in rescue operations, using lifeboats to ferry people to safety.
Suman Deb, a disaster management official, stated that while the intensity of rain had decreased since Thursday night, the Gomti River continues to flow above the danger mark. The Gomti, Tripura’s main river, flows through the Comilla district in Bangladesh before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.
Officials estimate that approximately one point seven million people have been affected by the floods in Tripura. The displaced population has gathered in four hundred fifty emergency camps. Damage to infrastructure, crops, and livestock has been extensive.
Most deaths in Tripura were attributed to landslides, with some caused by the collapse of mud walls and drowning incidents. The Indian Army reports that more than eighty of its personnel have participated in rescue efforts, bringing three hundred thirty-four stranded individuals to safety.
In Bangladesh, the situation has also become critical. The Gomti River breached an embankment late Thursday, inundating at least fifteen villages and displacing hundreds of families. The death toll in Bangladesh has risen to thirteen, with over three million people stranded, according to the country’s disaster management ministry.
Bangladeshi officials report that several villages, fish farming enclosures, and crop fields in the coastal Khulna district have been inundated after high tides caused river embankments to collapse. Blocked roads in several districts have isolated communities and hampered rescue and relief efforts.
Authorities in Bangladesh have evacuated more than seventy-five thousand people to over one thousand five hundred shelters in flood-affected districts. Military and border guard personnel are assisting in rescue operations.
Floodwaters have surged through the districts of Feni, Moulvibazar, and Noakhali, where roads are submerged and rescuers are using ropes to pull stranded individuals to safety.
Mohammad Alam, a resident of Noakhali, described the flooding as unprecedented in his lifetime.
The floods have sparked controversy, with some Bangladeshi citizens alleging that the opening of sluice gates at the Dumbur dam on the Gomti River in India’s Tripura state contributed to the flooding. Indian authorities have rejected these claims as inaccurate.
As rescue and relief efforts continue in both countries, authorities are monitoring weather forecasts and river levels, preparing for potential further evacuations if conditions worsen.
