Dozens killed as monsoon wreaks havoc across India, Nepal and Thailand

LUCKNOW, India — At least 62 people have died after days of heavy rain and flooding in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state, officials said Monday. The state government said 46 people were injured and more than 1,000 houses were damaged after three days of heavy rainfall caused flooding in several districts. Schools were closed Monday in parts of the state, including the capital, Lucknow, while rescue teams moved people from flooded areas to safer locations. Residents were advised to avoid unnecessary travel through waterlogged areas and stay away from fast-flowing rivers, streams and drains. Rainfall was expected to ease from Monday as a weather system over the Bay of Bengal weakened, said Atul Kumar Singh, a senior scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Lucknow. Light rain could continue in eastern and western parts of the state through Tuesday, he said. Flooding also affected the eastern state of Odisha, where more than 75,000 people were evacuated to safer areas, officials said. In neighboring Nepal, 21 people died in weather-related incidents from Thursday through Sunday, the country’s disaster management agency said. Five people remained missing and five others were injured, while floods and landslides damaged 194 houses. Nepal is still recovering from devastating August floods that killed more than 1,400 people and left nearly 6,000 missing. Thousands sheltered on Monday in evacuation centres in the Thai capital, parts of it still flooded after havoc brought by intense weekend rain, while swelling reservoirs in an eastern province triggered orders for more to leave their homes. Entire neighborhoods were inundated and the drainage network swamped after over 12 inches of rain fell during two or three days last week, or nearly as much as the sprawling low-lying city usually gets in all of September. “Over 80,000 residents living in flooded areas are unable to leave their homes,” Unsit Sampuntharat, the permanent secretary of the interior ministry, said in a statement, adding that mobile kitchen and boats were being mobilized in relief efforts. “The goal is to provide three meals a day to all residents throughout the ... flooding period and for at least another seven after waters recede,” he added, amid intermittent showers on Monday. Bangkok is among 41 provinces across Thailand hit by floods since September 16 that killed at least eight people and disrupted more than 580,000 homes, the ministry said. The floods could cause economic damage of at least 11 billion baht ($327 million) nationwide, with the losses likely to rise unless the situation improves, said Aat Pisanwanich of Rangsit University’s economics department. “The flooding is expected to shave 0.3 percentage points off this year’s GDP growth, reducing growth to 2.1%, and cut third-quarter growth by about 0.5 percentage points to 1.7%,” he told Reuters. Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, which has lagged regional peers since the COVID-19 pandemic, expanded 1.9% year-on-year in the year’s second quarter, but that was still down sharply from the previous quarter’s growth of 2.8%. Bangkok and the eastern region are likely to take the brunt of the impact, particularly wholesale and retail businesses, while industry and agriculture will suffer elsewhere, Aat added. Residents waded through waist-deep waters in the capital’s hard-hit neighbourhood of Bang Kapi to buy essentials from vendors, some of whom set up stalls with floating plastic boxes and drums, three days after incessant rain brought floods. At least 5,901 people in Bangkok have moved to 234 evacuation centres, a city administration official said. Sitting on a river delta of soft clay just 5 feet above sea level, heavily-built up Bangkok is sinking by several millimetres a year, while its population of more than 8.4 million often battles floods in its six-month-long rainy season. Further east, in the coastal province of Rayong abutting a major industrial belt, authorities ordered evacuations on Monday after flood waters swelled two reservoirs beyond their capacity. Last year’s catastrophic southern floods, triggered by 25 inches of rain over three days, killed at least 145, inundated more than 33,000 homes and damaged critical facilities such as schools, hospitals and highways.