DHAKA, July 13: An emergency red alert was sounded on Sunday in northern Bangladesh as thousands of people threatened by a leaking river dam were asked to leave their homes in the face of fresh floods, relief officials said.

At least 12 people were drowned and an estimated 400,000 had become homeless as heavy rains and water cascading down the hills from across the border in India converted the Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers into raging flood waters.

Disaster Management Office sources said renewed flooding had destroyed 72,000 mud and straw homes in the northern Rangpur region.

About 12,000 farming families living near the Teesta river dam in Dimla and Jaldhaka sub-districts were told to move to flood shelters with their movable valuables and animals.

Engineers were making emergency repairs to a dam close to the capital Dhaka which showed signs of stress in the face of mounting pressure of rain-swollen branch rivers of the Ganges, the Flood Information Centre said.

Six people were killed in Sirajganj district at the weekend after their boat was caught in the swift-moving Brahmaputra river which devastated rice fields, fish farms and road links.

Floods engulfed the worst-affected Nilphamari district after the Indian authorities opened the gates of Gozaldoba river barrage about 60 kilometres from the border.

Rescue workers said six people died in the frontier district due to flood-related causes while 24,000 houses were submerged under fresh inundations.

The second round of floods had also washed away standing rice crops, damaged roads and wrecked electric poles in central Bangladesh.

GUWAHATI: More than three million people have been displaced and 73 killed in floods and monsoon storms in India, as authorities continued the evacuation of marooned villagers in the northeast, officials said Sunday.

In the worst-affected northeastern state of Assam, two people drowned in separate incidents overnight in the eastern Morigaon district, 80 kilometres from the state capital Guwahati, when their boats capsized as they tried to escape the fury of the floods, officials said.

The deaths bring the death toll in the state from the floods which began on June 27 to 25.

“The main Brahmaputra river burst its banks at several places overnight, flooding hundreds more villages and forcing people in the thousands to move to safer areas,” Assam Flood Control Minister Nurzamal Sarkar told AFP.

“The situation is worsening by the hour with the river rising menacingly all along its course.”

The Brahmaputra is one of Asia’s largest rivers, originating as the Tsangpo in Tibet and flowing 740 kilometres across Assam before entering Bangladesh and meeting the sea at the Bay of Bengal. It floods every year during the monsoon season.

“We are in for more devastation, with floods affecting fresh areas every day,” Assam Revenue Minister Mithias Tudu told AFP.

DISEASES: Waterborne diseases have also begun to creep across the flood-hit areas, killing at least three people in the ravaged eastern Dhemaji district, 460 kilometres from Guwahati, officials said.