At least 180 dead, millions affected as monsoon floods wash away homes in Nepal, India

Nearly 6 million people continue to be affected by the seasonal monsoon flooding in South Asia.

People wade through floodwaters in the Tilak Nagar area of Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, July 2, 2019. The heaviest downpour since 2005 inundated Mumbai, delaying trains and planes and spurring the city administration to declare a holiday. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

Nearly 6 million people across Nepal and India are being affected by seasonal, torrential monsoon rains that have triggered landslides and washed away homes in the floodwaters. As of Tuesday morning, at least 180 people are dead and hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes.

The monsoon flooding first began in late June in the Indian state of Assam, and has since grown to primarily affect Nepal and the neighboring Indian states of Bihar, Tripura and Mizoram. Bangladesh and Pakistan have also been affected by flash floods that have killed dozens and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Starting in late June, the flooding worsened in mid-July. On July 14, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority reported worsened conditions affected 2.6 million people and caused 11 deaths across 28 districts. On July 15, the number of affected nearly doubled to 4.3 million across 30 of the state’s 33 districts.

Millions more have been affected across neighboring Indian states, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The property damage reported so far is catastrophic. Hundreds of thousands of homes have been damaged or washed away by the floodwaters and landslides, and a number of residential buildings have collapsed.

Shelters have been set up across the affected areas to house and provide aid to the hundreds of thousands of displaced victims.

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