Chattogram Flash Floods Kill 43 as Nearly a Million Marooned

Chattogram flash floods have killed at least 43 people and stranded hundreds of thousands across southeastern Bangladesh. Relentless monsoon rain and hill torrents turned homes, roads and cropland into a single sheet of water this week.

More than 866,000 people across Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari have been affected, officials say. Authorities have opened 1,727 shelters, where roughly 37,000 people have taken refuge. Rescue teams are still reaching cut-off villages.

Chattogram flash floods hit Rohingya camps hardest

The Rohingya refugee camps near Cox’s Bazar have suffered the worst of the disaster. Record rain has battered the dense maze of bamboo-framed, tarpaulin-covered shelters. Many sit on steep, deforested hillsides that have started to collapse.

Nearly a million people who fled Myanmar live in these camps. Landslides on the failing slopes have displaced thousands more. Aid workers describe families wading through chest-deep water carrying children and what little they could save.

The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre warned that ten districts could face further short-term flooding within 24 to 48 hours. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department expects above-normal temperatures to follow the rain.

A predictable crisis meets a stretched response

Bangladesh sits at the sharp edge of the climate emergency. Its rivers, deltas and low hills make the country acutely exposed to sudden, violent rainfall. Each monsoon now seems to bring records that once looked like outliers.

Local officials say shelters filled quickly and relief supplies are thin in the worst-hit uplands. Damaged roads have slowed the delivery of food and clean water.

Public-health experts warn that stagnant floodwater raises the risk of waterborne disease and mosquito-driven outbreaks in the weeks ahead. The camps, already crowded, are especially vulnerable.

For now, the priority is reaching those still stranded. The death toll is expected to rise as waters recede and access improves across the flooded districts.

Read more in our report on the Bangladesh measles outbreak.

Fact basis: Reporting drawn from The Daily Star flood coverage and Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre updates (thedailystar.net) and Inquirer News on the Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps, mid-August 2026. Figures cross-checked across outlets.