Floodwaters gushing down to the Bay of Bengal have submerged parts of central Bangladesh and continue to waterlog the country's north and west, forcing tens of thousands from their homes, officials and reports said.

Sunday's Daily Janakantha newspaper reported that millions were displaced, homeless or trying to mop up their damp dwellings after flooding from the Brahmaputra, Padma and Jamuna rivers which criss-cross Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Pabna, Bogra, Sirajganj and Jamalpur districts in the north of the country.

Further downriver, the central districts of Manikganj, Munshiganj, Rajbari and Madaripur were also hit by rising waters that flooded hundreds of villages along the banks.

The mass-circulation Ittefaq newspaper reported that flood-related incidents in northern and central districts claimed another 11 lives.

While no official flood figures or death toll has been provided, the new deaths bring the number of reported dead to at least 80, with many killed in landslides caused by heavy rains in the southeastern hill tracts late last month.

A major embankment on the Shitalakhya river in the eastern Dhaka suburb of Narayanganj, meanwhile, was under pressure, but officials said steps were being taken to ensure it did not give way.

At least two million people live inside the flood protection embankment, the New Age newspaper said.

Television footage showed villages in Sirajganj district, 105 kilometres (66 miles) northwest of capital Dhaka, totally submerged with only few tin roofs visible.

Bangladesh is pocked by more than 230 rivers, which ravage the country almost each year. At least 15 of 64 districts have been hit with floods spreading from the north towards the Bay of Bengal.

TERRA.WIRE