The mass-circulation Ittefaq said a six year-old boy and an elderly villager died of diarrhoeal disease in the northwestern Gaibandha district after waters from flash floods began to recede.

While no official death toll has been provided for the country as a whole, the deaths bring the number reported dead to 67, with most killed in landslides in the southeastern hill tracts late last month.

Officials in Dhaka's Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said rolling waters from the north were flooding more low-lying central districts, including the capital Dhaka.

But they hoped the situation in some badly hit northern districts including Gaibandha, Kurigram and nearby Sirajganj would improve within a few days as heavy rains and the deluge from across the border in India eased.

Bangladesh is criss-crossed by more than 230 rivers which ravage the deltaic country almost each year. At least 14 of 64 districts have been hit with floods spreading from the north towards the Bay of Bengal.

Officials said out of 85 river monitoring stations nationwide, water recorded a rise in 29 points and fell or remained stationary in others on Monday.

But they said the country was largely equipped to handle the floods.

Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been marooned or moved to safer places. In neighbouring India, 18 people have been reported dead and more than 1.4 million displaced.

Bangladesh's four-month full monsoon starts this month when the average monthly rainfall varies from 1,194 to 3,454 millimetres (48 to 138 inches).

In 1988, three months of sustained flooding left several hundred people dead and caused millions of dollars in damage, prompting a global call to help Bangladesh develop a long-term flood-protection system.

But in 1998 Bangladesh was again ravaged, this time by the worst flood in a century, leaving millions homeless and causing massive damage.

TERRA.WIRE