Flash floods hit 50,000 people in Bangladesh

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Flash floods caused by heavy rains washed away mud embankments, submerged dozens of villages and marooned about 50,000 people in their inundated homes in northern Bangladesh, authorities said Sunday.

No deaths were reported from the floods in the northern districts of Nilphamari, Rangpur, Lalmonirhat and Kurigram. The region is 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Dhaka, the capital.

The Associated Press reported the Teesta, Dharala and Brahmaputra rivers burst their banks this week following four day's of incessant rain in northern Bangladesh and neighboring India, according to the Flood Warning Center in Dhaka.

Flood waters swamped 30 villages in the region affecting nearly 50,000 people, local officials said. Rice crops in the fields have also been damaged by the gushing waters.

At least 5,000 people fled their flooded homes and took shelter in schools or were camped on mud embankments, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

Floods and cyclones occur annually in Bangladesh, a delta nation of 130 million people.