DHAKA – Rescuers are scrambling to evacuate flooded communities after heavy rains inundated parts of Bangladesh and northeast India, killing at least 36 people and causing rivers on both sides of the border to reach extreme levels.

Nearly 4.5 million people have been affected by the flooding in Bangladesh, which has forced hundreds of homes under water, leaving residents stranded on rooftops, the country’s Disaster Management ministry said.

At least 13 people have died in the flooding and almost 200,000 people have been evacuated from flooded areas in Bangladesh, Md Kamrul Hasan, a senior official of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, told reporters Friday.

In the northeastern Indian state of Tripura, which borders Bangladesh, at least 23 people have died, according to Mohsen Shahidi, a senior official in India’s National Disaster Response force. In Tripura, more than 64,000 people are seeking shelter in relief camps, the state’s emergency operation center said.

Heavy flooding and mudslides have killed hundreds, displaced millions and wrecked infrastructure across South Asia in recent months. While floods are common in the region during monsoon season, scientists say the human-caused climate crisis has exacerbated extreme weather events and made them more deadly.

Parts of Tripura and districts in eastern Bangladesh have recorded heavy rainfall of up to nearly 200 millimeters (about 8 inches) in recent days, which has caused perilous floodwaters to rise. (CNN)…[+]