Desperate situation in Bangladesh, says Birmingham charity worker

Bangladesh's Sylhet region was still recovering from its worst flooding in nearly two decades when floods hit

A Birmingham charity worker says record-breaking flooding in Bangladesh has created a "desperate situation".

Atiqur Rehman, from the Aston-based charity Global Relief Trust, is in the country visiting homes and helping to rescue people.

He said residents claim a combination of unexpected heavy rain and water released from an Indian dam has created "once in a lifetime" flooding.

He urged the West Midlands community to "dig deep and donate".

Dozens of people are known to have died in lightning strikes and landslides triggered by severe monsoon storms in India and Bangladesh which have left millions stranded.

Mr Rehman arrived in Sylhet in eastern Bangladesh earlier this week. Assam in neighbouring India is also badly affected.

He said people's livelihoods had been destroyed and homes washed away.

"One of the areas I have visited was actually where I was born and I can't remember a time that I've heard such stories of devastation," he told the BBC.

Atiqur Rehman urged Bangladeshis in the West Midlands to be aware of what was happening and donate to charities

He said he spoke to a man in his 80s who told him "he can't remember a time when the floods have ever been this bad".

"As you speak to some of the authority members here and some of the locals, they're saying these are floods as bad as once in a lifetime - we're talking 80 to 100 years it's not been this bad."

About 85% of the Bangladeshi community in the West Midlands is from the affected region, Mr Rehman said.

"There's hundreds of people contacting us to check on their families."

Without internet or electricity, communication has been challenging, he said.

"It's a desperate situation here."

Mr Rehman said people have lost their homes and businesses in the floods