At least 44 people have died in southeastern Bangladesh after days of torrential monsoon rains caused widespread flooding and landslides, according to the country’s disaster management ministry. The deluge has stranded more than a million people and left over 267,000 households marooned across seven districts, including Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, and Bandarban. Many residents have been unable to cook for days as floodwaters and thick mud inundated homes, forcing thousands of families to rely on dry food, flattened rice, and emergency biscuits.

Damaged roads, washed-out bridges, and disrupted power and communication lines have slowed rescue and relief operations. Army and navy personnel are using boats to deliver food, drinking water, medicine, and other essential supplies to isolated communities. Disaster Management and Relief Minister Iqbal Hossain, visiting affected areas in Chattogram, said the government was distributing aid and urged those whose homes were submerged to move to the nearest shelters. In the Rohingya refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, where more than a million people live in makeshift shelters on deforested slopes, heavy rains earlier this week triggered landslides that killed 16 refugees, including women and children. Local authorities said they are relocating refugees from high-risk hilly areas.

Neighbouring Myanmar also reported flood-related fatalities. The humanitarian services of the Arakan Army, an ethnic minority rebel group controlling parts of Rakhine State, said at least three people had been killed and rescuers expressed concern about further rising waters threatening the elderly, sick, and pregnant residents. The same monsoon system has fed Typhoon Bavi, which skirted northern Taiwan and Japan’s southern islands before tracking toward eastern China. China’s national meteorological center said the storm, with sustained winds of 144 kilometres per hour, was expected to make landfall near the city of Wenzhou early Sunday. State media reported that more than 1.8 million people had been evacuated from Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. In the Philippines, 17 people died from heavy rains exacerbated by the typhoon’s influence. Bangladesh’s meteorological service forecasts further rainfall in the coming days, and the toll from the flooding remains provisional as relief teams work to reach cut-off areas.