Floods Swamp New Areas in Bangladesh

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Seven people drowned when a boat capsized in swirling floodwaters in eastern India, officials said Saturday, and a swollen river burst its banks and swamped dozens of villages in Bangladesh.

Forecasters warned of more rain to come in a monsoon season that has caused 911 deaths in Nepal, India and Bangladesh while displacing or isolating 25 million people since June.

In China, the death toll from landslides caused by torrential rains in southwestern Yunnan province has risen to 52, official media reported Saturday. Another 41 people are missing in the disasters Wednesday in the remote counties of Yanjin and Xinping. Altogether, more than 900 people have died in China this year due to seasonal storms.

Floods have killed 330 people in India, the latest when a boat sank Friday in a rising river in Bihar state. The accident happened in Khagariya district, 90 miles northwest of Patna, the state capital, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Ram Vichar Rai told The Associated Press.

The state's water department said that intermittent rains Friday and Saturday had kept most rivers dangerously high and that more rains were expected.

As most of India struggles with the worst drought in years, heavy rains and flooding have destroyed about 2.5 million acres of crops and disrupted the lives of more than 15 million people in 7,825 villages in Bihar, which is along the eastern Himalayan foothills. At least 276 people have died in the state.

In northern Bangladesh, the Jamuna River overflowed and spilled into dozens of villages Saturday, relief officials said. At least 2,000 people had to flee or were stranded by high water, they said.

The flooding was in Sirajganj district, 65 miles northwest of the capital, Dhaka, and officials said thousands of people in the area already were homeless because of earlier floods.

There were no reports of new casualties in Bangladesh, where at least 157 people have been killed and nearly 7 million displaced since June.

Weather officials have forecast more rains and more flooding in Bangladesh and India. But in Nepal, where 424 people have already died in this year's round of rains, the weather has improved in recent days and there were no reports of new damage or deaths.