South Asia floods claim 1,200 dead

More than 1,200 deaths have been reported across India, Bangladesh, and Nepal as heavy flooding continued to affect more than 40m people.

Rising waters have destroyed or damaged 18,000 schools, denying access to education for almost 2m students.

The flooding stretched across the foothills of the Himalayas, causing landslides, destroying roads and electrical towers as well as damaging tens of thousands of homes and a wide expanse of farmland.

In Bangladesh, 70% of whose land surface is under sea level according to the Red Cross, the flood had affected more than 7m people, destroying 697,000 properties and leaving several dead in its path.

Landslides in Nepal killed more than 100 people, and the Red Cross, in association with the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and the Nepal Red Cross, launched appeals to supply aid to the almost 20,000 vulnerable individuals left without water, sanitation, health, and shelter.

The streets of Mumbai were more reminiscent of Venice, as flood waters from the 12.7cm of rain on Tuesday forced people to wade through waist-deep waters to get anywhere as public transport stopped and thousands of commuters were trapped in their workplaces.

Flights out of Mumbai were cancelled, diverted or delayed for at least an hour.

The National Disaster Response Force had commenced rescue operations to evacuate those in low-lying areas, but the uninterrupted rain posed risks to them also.

"The heavy rains, flooding, are delaying our rescue work. Even we are stranded," said Amitesh Kumar, the joint police commissioner in Mumbai.

India's department of meteorology warned that the rains would continue unabated for the next 24 hours.