Heavy rain inundated villages in western India, collapsing houses, washing away telephone lines and killing at least 24 people just a week after farmers prayed for rain to end a prolonged dry spell.
Rescue workers also found 10 more bodies as floodwaters receded in eastern Bihar state, relief officer Upendra Sharma said Thursday.
In Bangladesh, 22 people were reported dead from drowning, diarrhea, dysentery and snakebites Wednesday and Thursday.
The new deaths raised the toll from six weeks of monsoon floods in South Asia to 1,883, according to official figures compiled by The Associated Press. More than 1,000 of those deaths occurred in India, mostly from drownings, mudslides and waterborne diseases.
The death toll could rise as reports arrive from remote areas of western Indian states cut off by the flash floods, officials said. The rains have blocked rail and road traffic in several parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra states.
At least 15 trains connecting Bombay, India’s financial capital, and other western cities with northern states were canceled Thursday, Western Railway spokesman S. Bhagwat said. Hundreds of passengers remained stranded at the Bombay Central railway station, he said.
