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PEKERKHAL, Bangladesh — Rohima Begum was making breakfast last week when the floodwaters started pouring into her tin and bamboo house and racing on the ground.
Ms. Begüm, her three children and her mother fled quickly in a small boat. When they looked back, the house and its belongings had been swept.
“I’m having a hard time here and I don’t know what will happen next,” said Ms. Begum, 28, at a school building housing hundreds of flood victims in northeastern Bangladesh this week.
The Asia-Pacific region is accustomed to occasional flooding. In Bangladesh and elsewhere, the rhythms of local life have adapted for centuries to the annual monsoons, which typically last from June to September and provide farmers with the water they need to grow. rice, primary food In many countries.
But this year, particularly heavy rains are a stark reminder that climate change is bringing more extreme weather conditions around the world. In China, where recent floods have displaced hundreds of thousands of people, state-owned news media reported this week that water levels have dropped. went beyond flood levels over a hundred rivers. Recent flooding in Bangladesh and northern India has destroyed towns and railway stations. kill dozens of people and displace millions of others.
As of Friday, at least 68 people have died in Bangladesh from flood-related causes including drowning, electric shocks and landslides since mid-May, government data show. More than 4,000 people were infected with waterborne diseases. The crops were devastated.
The northeast, a region that produces most of the rice for a country of about 170 million, has been particularly hard hit. Department commissioner Mosharraf Hossain said at least 384,000 people were displaced in Ms. Begum’s main area in Sylhet, one of six districts in the northeast.
“Every piece of real estate in Bangladesh is populated and this entire area is under water,” said Sheldon Yett, the representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund in the country, referring to the northeast.
As rescue efforts continue, there is an urgent concern that waterborne diseases will affect more people, Yett added, adding that he has already seen an increase in diarrhea reports. She noted that although recent rains have subsided, more is expected in the coming days and weeks.
“Long-term climate change emergencies aren’t always on the front pages, and so they sometimes get lost under the waves,” he added. “Both metaphorical and literal in Bangladesh.”
Linking climate change to a single flood event requires extensive scientific analysis. But climate change, which causes more heavy rainfall in many storms, is becoming an increasingly important part of the mix. Warmer atmosphere holds and releases more water.
Scientists have determined that global warming caused record rainfall last summer that led to devastating floods in Germany and Belgium. much more likely. In South Asia, recent research has shown that climate change breaking the annual monsoon.
India and Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable to climate change as they are close to the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. in 2020 torrential rains It flooded at least a quarter of Bangladesh. Last year heavy rains and landslides destroyed a sprawling Rohingya refugee camp in one night.
“We’re now past the stage of asking if each of these extreme weather events is due to climate change,” said climate scientist Roxy Mathew Koll of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. “The question has become outdated and often a distraction from working towards climate solutions.”
Abdus Sattar, 70, a former village mayor in northeastern Bangladesh, is not a climate scientist. But he had no trouble putting the scale of recent floods in historical context.
“I’ve never seen a flood like this,” said Mr. Sattar, who took shelter in the same converted school building as Ms. Begum on Thursday. “My father used to tell me a lot of stories about their struggles, but he never told me anything like this flood. It destroyed most of the villagers.”
Ms. Begüm, her mother and her three children aged 4 to 10 fled to the school building in Pekerkhal after their house was washed on 17 June. Her husband has been looking for a job in Saudi Arabia for the past six months. build.
Located in a flooded area accessible only by boat, the school shelter has a toilet for around 190 families. Rice sacks brought by some flood victims made the place even more crowded.
When Ms. Begüm came home, there was no food because she had left the house in a hurry. She initially said that her family had to drink flood water, she said. They also did not eat for two days until another family had dinner with them.
They have a small stock of rice, sugar and bottled water provided by aid workers, Begum said. But their children are still crying.
“My mom says I’m a beautiful woman,” she said. “But I got ugly last week.”
Saif Hasnat reported from Pekerkhal, Bangladesh, and Mike Ives from Seoul.
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