GUWAHATI, July 25: Monsoon rains lashing South Asia over the past three weeks have triggered flashfloods and mudslides that have killed more than 300 people and displaced almost four million.

Nepal, Bangladesh and eastern India have been hit the hardest by the rains, which have been pounding the region again since the weekend following a lull of about a week.

In Nepal, at least 269 people have died in floods and landslides which have swept through the Himalayan kingdom in the past four days, officials in the affected areas said.

The hardest hit district was Makwanpur in the south of the kingdom where about 150 people have been killed since Sunday as their villages were swept away by floods, local authorities reached by telephone said.

Home ministry officials in Kathmandu said 972 families from 19 of Nepal’s 75 districts have been affected by flooding and landslides, with the rains expected to rage on throughout the week.

In Bangladesh, more than 2.3 million people have been left stranded or homeless from surging floodwaters since the beginning of the month, disaster and health ministry officials said.

Some 200,000 homes have been submerged in 12 of the country’s 64 districts.

At least 19 people died in the flooding, 16 of them due to waterborne diseases, the officials said.

They added that fresh monsoon rains have engulfed more villages in several southeastern hill districts since the weekend.

In India, floods have ravaged parts of the eastern states of Bihar and Assam, leaving at least two million people homeless and claiming at least 26 lives.

Residents of Bihar state, where 20 people have died in the floods, including 17 who drowned on Wednesday when their boat capsized, have been warned that worse is to come.

“The situation is grim,” state Chief Minister Rabri Devi said after an aerial tour of Bihar, warning the millions of residents in the province to “be prepared for worse.”

In Assam state, a two-year-old child drowned in the eastern district of Morigaon Wednesday after slipping from her mother’s arms, taking the toll to six since flooding began on July 1.

“The lady, along with her family of four, was fleeing the flashfloods in a rowboat when her child slipped from her arms,” Ramani Das, a police official said.

“It was a very tragic incident with the lady inconsolable and unable to come to terms with her loss.”—AFP