Thousands flee Bangladesh floods

Vast areas have been inundated by sea waters

At least 50,000 people in Bangladesh's coastal islands in the Bay of Bengal have been made homeless by flooding caused by high tides and land erosion.

Officials said tidal waves three to four feet higher than normal hit the coastal islands on Saturday and Sunday, washing away embankments and flooding vast areas.

Meteorologists say the unusually high tides were caused by the new moon when the sea level was at its peak.

In Hatia, a 900 square kilometre coastal island in the Bay of Bengal, thousands of people have fled their homes after their villages went under water.

A government official on the island, Rezaul Karim, said at least 20,000 people had to moved to higher ground due to flooding.

He said many of them were staying in the island's 105 cyclone shelters, while others were living in the open air.

Contacted by telephone, Mr Karim told the BBC that part of the embankment that protects the island from the sea had been washed away.

Town under threat

Sea water is flooding vast areas of the island twice a day at high tide.

In the south-eastern district of Cox's Bazar, the high tides have inundated hundreds of villages along the 400 kilometre coastline.

Officials said the coastal island of Kutubdia had been worst hit, where thousands of people had moved to temporary shelters.

Many have fled their homes

In Chandpur, a central district on the confluence of Bangladesh's two main rivers, the Padma and the Meghna, the authorities are struggling to protect the town from being washed away.

Deputy commissioner of the district, Moniruzzaman Khan, said the very existence of the town was now under threat.

He said the Meghna and another river, the Dakatia - which are separated by a stretch of land just 50 metres wide - were about to merge.

If that happened, he said, the mighty Meghna could take a different course and wash away almost half the town.

Mr Khan said people were trying to protect the town by throwing concrete blocks in the river.

In Haimchar, in Chandpur district - a vast low-lying area on the bank of the Meghna - 20,000 people have already been made homeless since the monsoon set in this year.