The flood situation triggered by monsoon rains in India's northeastern state Assam escalated on Sunday, according to local officials, leaving 24 districts heavily flooded. The number of deaths increased to 84, with five more deaths reported on Sunday.

A similar situation also prevails in its neighboring country, Nepal, where the Flood Forecasting Section of Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has issued warnings urging people living along the river banks and low land areas Terai, southern Nepal, to move to safe sites due to the possibility of floods. 

Torrential rains during the annual monsoon season between June and September cause floods, landslides and lightning strikes across the region, with hundreds dying every year.

So far, nearly four million people in this region have been displaced, with dozens missing as deaths rose to at least 189. 

India issued a red alert for heavy rain in Assam till July 21. Officials said 108 wild animals have died at Kaziranga National Park, including eight rhinos. According to the local disaster management authorities, more than 2.75 million people in Assam have been displaced by three waves of floods since late May. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday assured all support to Assam in dealing with the floods. Modi discussed the flood situation with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal over the phone and also asked about the COVID-19 situation. 

Other south Asian countries are facing flooding due to the impact of monsoon rainfall. 

In Bangladesh, at least 67 people had died and another 2.6 million had been affected by swollen rivers bursting their banks and inundating villages over the past two weeks, officials said.

"Of the total, 55 people have died from drowning and eight from lighting strikes," Bangladesh health department spokeswoman Ayesha Akther said, adding that the flood situation improved in the last few days.

"But now rivers are again rising in the north after a fresh deluge of rainfall," the country's Flood Forecasting and Warning Center chief Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan added.

Heavy monsoon rains were expected to pound the Himalayan nations where around 200 have died in floods and landslides since May. Though flooding and landslides are frequent during the monsoon season in northeastern India and its neighboring countries, this year's floods hit the country as it struggles to contain the spread of coronavirus, with more than one million cases, reported so far across the country. 

In the Indian state of Bihar, situated to the south of Nepal, went into renewed lockdowns earlier this week. Many districts and villages have been inundated and transport disrupted by the heavy rains in the state. 

India is now the third on the Johns Hopkins University tally of COVID-19 country cases, following the U.S. and Brazil.  Assam is facing a twin challenge of combating floods and the coronavirus pandemic. 

Cover image via Reuters 

(With input from agencies)