More than 200 people have died in monsoon flooding in South Asia in the last 10 days.
Heavy rainfall, melting snow in the Himalayas and waters coming from flooding in China has lead to near record flooding in Bangladesh. Over 50 per cent of the country is now under water. Image: Getty Images
Over 10 million remained marooned in their villages or homeless today, with many having no access to health care, and the threat of water-borne diseases is rising, with many villages cut off for days.
Some people have been bitten by snakes flooded out of their pits, others crushed under the rubble of their houses, and many drowned by rising flood waters.
In India's impoverished eastern state of Bihar, a number of pregnant women in flooded areas gave birth to stillborn babies, as flooding led to the collapse of the rural medical infrastructure in many areas.
Residents in Bihar, where around eight million are affected, said they were facing a shortage of medicines, as well as food.
In India's northeastern state of Assam, where nearly three million are displaced or marooned - more than 10 per cent of the state's population - officials are warning of outbreaks of diarrhoea and malaria.
Thousands are living on roads and river embankments and on patches of dry land, surrounded by huge expanses of muddy flood water. Military helicopters and boats tried to bring food, drinking water and medicines to them.
In the country's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, hundreds of thousands were displaced or stranded in villages in its eastern districts. In western India, flights and trains were delayed by monsoon rains in the financial hub of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay.
In Bangladesh, 11 people died in flood-related incidents overnight as new areas were flooded - including low-lying areas of the capital, Dhaka.
In Nepal, thousands remained homeless due to flooding and landslides over the past few weeks, and the UN's World Food Programme has appealed for food to feed 60,000 Nepalis.
More than half of the low-lying and riverine nation is flooded, with nearly 7 million homeless or marooned.
Every year, monsoon rains and floods kill hundreds in South Asia and cause widespread disruption, but the annual rainfall season is vital for agriculture and the region's overall economy.