DHAKA, May 12 (News Agencies) - Severe seasonal storms battered Bangladesh for the fourth straight day on Saturday, as the death toll reached 32 with more than 300 people injured.
Six people were killed and several more injured early Saturday in southeastern Noakhali district, the private Ekushey Television reported, adding homes and crops were also damaged.
Four districts fell prey to the storms Friday, with six people killed in the Chuadanga, Gaibandha, Rajshahi and Magura areas, local officials and newspaper reports said.
The officials said the deaths were caused mainly by house collapses and lightning strikes. Twenty people had been reported killed up until Friday.
More than 300 people had also been injured during the past four days, newspaper reports said.
The storms damaged rice crops, both those ready for harvest and new saplings planted for the next harvest, the officials said.
The early monsoon rains have flooded low-lying areas in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere, besides swamping parts of the northeastern Habiganj district after a flood dam gave way Friday, officials said.
Meteorologists have warned of flooding if the early monsoon rains fail to ease, since the country lies in a vast delta criss-crossed by 230 rivers.
