At least 62 people died after days of torrential rain and flooding in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, authorities announced on Monday. Another 46 people were injured and more than 1,000 homes were damaged as three days of heavy rainfall caused flooding in several areas.
Schools closed on Monday in parts of the state, including the capital, Lucknow, while rescue crews moved people from flooded zones to safer places. Residents were urged to avoid unnecessary travel through flooded areas and to stay away from rivers, streams and drains with fast-flowing water.
According to Atul Kumar Singh, a senior scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Lucknow, rainfall was expected to ease from Monday as a weather system over the Bay of Bengal weakened. Light rain could continue in eastern and western parts of the state until Tuesday, he added.
Floods also hit the eastern state of Odisha, where more than 75,000 people were evacuated to safe locations, officials said.
In neighbouring Nepal, 21 people died in weather-related incidents from Thursday to Sunday, according to the country's disaster management agency. Five people remained missing and five were injured, while floods and landslides damaged 194 homes. Nepal is still trying to recover from August's devastating floods, which killed more than 1,400 people and left nearly 6,000 missing.
In Thailand, thousands of people took shelter on Monday in evacuation centres in the capital, Bangkok, parts of which remained flooded after the chaos caused by heavy weekend rainfall, while rising reservoir levels in an eastern province prompted orders to evacuate more residents. Entire neighbourhoods flooded and the drainage system was overwhelmed after more than 30 centimetres of rain fell in two or three days, almost as much as the low-lying city usually receives throughout September.
According to a statement by the Interior Ministry's permanent secretary, Unsit Sampuntharat, more than 80,000 residents in flooded areas cannot leave their homes, while mobile kitchens and boats were deployed to provide relief.
The floods could cause at least 11 billion baht, about $327 million, in economic damage nationwide, with losses likely to rise if the situation does not improve, said Aat Pisanwanich of Rangsit University's economics department. He said the floods are expected to cut GDP growth by 0.3 percentage points this year, bringing it down to 2.1%, and reduce third-quarter growth by about 0.5 percentage points to 1.7%.
Residents waded through waist-deep water in the capital's badly hit Bang Kapi neighbourhood to buy essentials from vendors, some of whom set up stalls using floating plastic crates and barrels. At least 5,901 people in Bangkok were moved to 234 evacuation centres, according to a city official.
Last year, devastating floods in the south, caused by about 63 centimetres of rain in three days, killed at least 145 people, flooded more than 33,000 homes and hit critical infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and highways.
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