In September 1998, Bangladesh saw the most severe flooding in modern world history. As the Brahmaputra, the Ganges and Meghna spilt over and swallowed 300,000 houses,  of road and  of embankment, 1,000 people were killed and 30 million more were made homeless; 135,000 cattle were killed;  of land were destroyed; and  of roads were damaged or destroyed. Effectively, two-thirds of the country was underwater.