Devastating monsoon rains affect 41 million people in South Asia

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While all eyes have been on the devastation from Hurricane Harvey in Texas, catastrophic floods have also been wreaking havoc more than 8,000 miles away in South Asia. Unusually heavy monsoon rains over the last several weeks have killed over 1,000 people across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. In all, over 41 million people have suffered the direct impact of the rain.

Already deeply impoverished rural communities have been devastated as landslides and rising waters have taken away homes — as well as people. In Nepal, villagers traveled on makeshift rafts to escape rising waters, and elephants were used to help rescue trapped tourists and residents.

The most recent city hit is Mumbai, India’s financial center, parts of which are under several feet of water. On Tuesday, traffic in parts of the city came to a near total halt, schools were closed, and the city’s largest hospital was partially flooded.