Deadly Flooding in South Asia

[Content Note: Extreme weather; flooding; death]

While many of us in the United States have been preoccupied with the flooding in Texas and Louisiana, monsoon rains across South Asia have done an extraordinary amount of damage, displacing millions of people from their homes and taking nearly 2,000 lives.

More than 1,200 people are believed to have died across India, Bangladesh, and Nepal as a result of the flooding, which reached Pakistan today, killing at least 14 people in the port city of Karachi.

The flooding is so severe that they have caused buildings to collapse. In Mumbai, a four-story residential building "gave way on Thursday morning in the densely populated area of Bhendi Bazaar, after roads were turned into rivers in India's financial capital. ...Thousands more buildings that are more than 100 years old are at risk of collapse due in part to foundations being weakened by flood waters."

One third of Bangladesh was believed to be underwater and the UN described the situation in Nepal, where 150 people have died, as the worst flooding in a decade.

The floods have also destroyed or damaged 18,000 schools in the south Asia region, meaning that about 1.8 million children cannot go to classes, Save the Children said on Thursday.

The charity said hundreds of thousands of children could fall permanently out of the school system if education was not prioritised in relief efforts.

...Floods have caused devastation in many parts of India. Unprecedented rainfall in Assam in the north-east has killed more than 150 people. About 600 villages are still underwater even though the torrential rain began earlier this month.

...[In Mumbai], children swam or paddled down the streets lying on planks of wood. ...Others living in the low-lying areas most affected by the flooding were swept away into the sea or died when walls collapsed.

People who have made a run for it are saying they've weathered these monsoon rains every year of their lives, but this is unlike anything they're used to navigating. Climate change has intensified monsoon season.

It's just devastating, in every way.

If you would like to help, Will Worley has some ideas at the Independent. Please share additional ways to help in comments, and, as always, let's keep this thread image-free. Thanks.