Death toll from South Asian flooding nearly reaches 3,200

In the massive flood plain of the eastern Indian state of Bihar — one of the worst-hit areas — the death toll reached nearly 500 with 20 million people affected, the government’s disaster management office said on its Web site.

More than 800,000 people were still housed in government shelters and thousands of boats were being used to rescue people, the office said.

The Ganges and other major rivers that run through Bihar continued to surge above the danger mark, the Press Trust of India reported.

Nearly 2,200 people have died in India from the annual monsoon rain floods since June and millions more have been displaced, the Web site said.

In neighboring Bangladesh, the worst floods in nearly a decade have claimed 709 lives in the past month, taking the toll since the start of monsoon season to 835, the country’s health ministry said.

The flood waters in Bangladesh had, however, receded from most of the country’s 39 affected districts.

Another 151 people have died in Nepal since June and more than 68,000 families remain affected, home ministry official Ishwar Regmi said Monday.

Heavy monsoon rains and snow melt peaked in late July and early August in South Asia, with losses estimated at more than one billion dollars and major outbreaks of water-borne diseases such as diarrhea posing a health threat.

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