GUWAHATI, India/DHAKA (Reuters) - The mighty Brahmaputra river, swollen by rain and a Himalayan burst dam, has flooded huge swathes of north India and Bangladesh, killing dozens and forcing millions to seek refuge on higher ground.

In tea and oil-rich Assam, at least 40 villagers packed into a wooden boat, including many women and children, drowned late on Saturday. There were no survivors, a police official said.

That brought the death toll from the annual monsoon floods to more than 70 in India and neighbouring Nepal.

In neighbouring Bangladesh, officials said 13 people had died and an estimated 3 million people were marooned - cut off in their flooded homes and on patches of high ground.

In the eastern Indian states of Assam and Bihar, military helicopters and soldiers in motor boats tried to rescue thousands of stranded people and dropped cooked food.

All rivers in Assam, including the main Brahmaputra, were overflowing after a week of incessant rains.

"More than two million people have become homeless because of floods," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told Reuters.

DAM BURSTS

In Bihar, at least 14 people were drowned in two separate incidents on Saturday when their boats capsized in the swollen Bagmati river.

More than 600,000 people had been affected in Bihar, said state Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Ram Vichar Rai.

A dam at Tsatitsu lake in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan had burst, spilling water into tributaries of the Brahmaputra and swelling the floods in Assam, a flood control official said.

Floods and landslides have left thousands stranded on high ground in the neighbouring mountainous kingdom of Nepal, killing at least 12 people, an official said.

"People are sitting on roof tops or have climbed trees as flood waters have entered their homes in the southern plains," an Interior Ministry official said. "We are sending rafts or rubber boards and helicopters to rescue the marooned."

While Assam and Bihar are battling floods, the northwestern and central regions of India have had less rain than normal so far in the June-September monsoon, raising doubts about the fate of major crops such as rice and oilseed crops.

The northeastern Bangladesh town of Sylhet, at the centre of the worst-hit district, lay under 60 cms (two feet) of water and road and rail links were cut or threatened by the rising water.

More rain was forecast in the next few days and could flood areas around the capital, Dhaka, officials said. The floods now covered nearly 20 of 64 administrative districts.

Thousands of families had sought refuge on roads and embankments as well as in schools, government buildings and boats after the floods forced them to abandon homes.

Relief and rescue operations have yet to start in many areas.

"We have enough relief goods but it is difficult to reach people in remote villages due to bad weather and a shortage of boats," said relief official M. Mostafa Kamal.

Floods in South Asia caused by rains that lash the region after the summer months bring death and destruction each year.

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