Floods, landslides kill more than 800 people across South Asia

Widespread floods have killed more than 800 people and displaced over a million in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, with aid workers warning of severe food shortages and water-borne diseases as rains continue to lash the affected areas, Reuters has reported.

Seasonal monsoon rains, a lifeline for farmers across South Asia, typically cause loss of life and property every year between July and September, but officials say this year's flooding is the worst in several years.

At least 115 people have died and more than 5.7 million are affected in Bangladesh as floods submerged more than a third of the low-lying and densely populated country, Reuters added.

"The water level has gradually dropped. The flood situation will improve if it does not rain upstream any further," Sazzad Hossain, Executive Engineer of Bangladesh's Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre, told Reuters.

Reaz Ahmed, Director-General of Bangladesh's Disaster Management Department, said that there are rising concerns about food shortages and the spread of disease.

"With the flood waters receding, there is a possibility of an epidemic. We fear the outbreak of water-borne diseases if clean water is not ensured soon," Ahmed told Reuters.

With some rivers running above danger levels, 225 bridges have been damaged in Bangladesh, disrupting food and medicine supplies to people displaced from their homes, said aid workers.

In the Indian state of Assam bordering Bangladesh, at least 180 people have been killed in the past few weeks. Torrential rains have also hit the north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Manipur, killing at least 30 people.

Flood waters of the Brahmaputra river had earlier in July submerged the Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary in Assam. The floods have since killed more than 350 animals, including 24 endangered one-horned rhinoceros, five elephants and a tiger.

"We are facing a wildlife disaster," Assam Forest Minister, Pramila Rani Brahma, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, in the eastern state of Bihar, at least 253 people lost their lives where incessant rains washed away crops, destroyed roads, and disrupted power supplies.

A senior official in Bihar's disaster management department, Anirudh Kumar, said nearly half a million people have been provided with shelter.

In Nepal, 141 people were confirmed dead, while thousands of survivors returned to their semi-destroyed homes.