Millions affected after deadly floods hit India and Bangladesh

The South Asian nations, home to more than 1.3 billion people, have been particularly badly hit by the rains, prompting some of the worst flooding in the region in years, as extreme weather events become increasingly frequent due to the climate crisis. In India, at least 48 people have died since June 14, after heavy rains battered the northeastern state of Assam, according to its disaster management authority, triggering landslides and causing river banks to swell. More than 5.5 million people have been affected in the state alone, the authority added. Health facilities have been inundated in Sylhet, while children were at heightened risk of drowning, according to UNICEF. More than 36,000 children have sought refuge in overcrowded shelters, together with their families, UNICEF said. Schools have been forced to close and exams have been canceled, further impacting their education following months of closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, it added. Extreme weather events in South Asia are becoming increasingly frequent due to the climate crisis, with temperatures in parts of India and Pakistan reaching record levels during a heatwave in April and May. Scientists said the climate crisis had made the possibility of a record-breaking heatwave hitting India and Pakistan “100 times more likely.”A 2022 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said they had medium confidence that heatwaves and humid stress would become more “intense and frequent,” and that “annual and summer monsoon precipitation will increase.”CNN’s Esha Mitra contributed reporting.