The death toll from monsoon storms in Bangladesh rose above 100 Friday with flood levels still rising in many parts of the country, officials said.

About 30 people have been reported dead in the last three days, taking the toll to 114 — making it one of the country's worst monsoons in years.

Most victims have drowned but some have been killed by landslides, snake bites and lightning strikes.

Five girls aged between six and 18 drowned when their boat capsized in a flood torrent in the northern district of Jamalpur on Thursday, district administrator Ahmed Kabir told AFP.

The Brahmaputra river, which flows out of the Himalayas, has risen dramatically since July 10 leaving 1.2 million people in Jamalpur without homes or affected by the floods.

The river last week was at its highest level since authorities started keeping records in 1975.

Six villages in Mymensingh district were flooded after waters breached an embankment and forced 2,000 people to flee their homes, district administrator Mizanur Rahman said.

Five million people have been affected by the floods since July 10, according to authorities. Several hundred thousand have been forced out of their homes.

The state-run Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said at least 26 of the country's 64 districts — covering a third of the country — have been flooded by heavy monsoon rains and a deluge from Himalayan rivers in India and Nepal.

The centre said water levels would remain high in many districts until Saturday. The floods were receding in other districts however, centre head Arifuzzaman Bhuyan told AFP.

Bangladesh is regularly flooded during the June-September monsoon as hundreds of rivers that feed into the Bay of Bengal burst their banks.

In 1998, during one of the nation's worst-ever floods, nearly 70 percent of the country went under water, leaving more than a thousand people dead and 30 million people affected.

Indian navy rescues hundreds stranded on train in floods
New Delhi (AFP) July 27, 2019 –

Indian navy helicopters and emergency service boats came to the rescue of more than 800 people stranded on a train in floods near Mumbai on Saturday.

The Mahalaxmi Express left Mumbai late Friday for Kolhapur but travelled only 60 kilometres (37 miles) before it became stranded after a river burst its banks in torrential rain, covering the tracks.

The train was stuck for about 12 hours in Thane district before authorities called in the Indian navy and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) who deployed helicopters, boats, and divers.

Indian Railways said the train was emptied in about five hours after the operation started. Nine pregnant women were among those taken off.

Aerial images showed boats taking people wearing life jackets away from the stricken train, trapped in a sea of muddy brown water that covered surrounding fields.

Ambulances and at least 37 doctors were sent to treat passengers, who were also given food and water, Indian Railways said.

A spokesman for the state company added that a "special relief train" would take people onwards on their journeys.

Heavy monsoon rains battered Mumbai forcing the cancellation of 11 flights from the financial capital's international airport on Saturday. Nine incoming planes were diverted to other airports.

The main highway from Mumbai to the resort of Goa was closed because of rising waters.

At least 20 centimetres (eight inches) of rain fell in some parts of Mumbai over 24 hours.

More than 250 people have died in flooding across India in the past two weeks, with Assam and Bihar states in the north the worst hit. The army said it had rescued more than 150 people stranded in their homes in Assam's Nalbari district in recent days.