Heavy rain caused a landslide before dawn Monday sweeping away mud homes in the remote southeastern village of Noabadi, killing at least 22 people, local official Matiur Rahman said.

"We are still searching for more people in the rubble ... and the toll might go up," he told AFP.

Fire brigade officials in the nearby town of Akhaura said 100 people were injured and some of the serious cases were being sent to hospitals in the capital of Dhaka, 80 kilometres (50 miles) away.

"Villagers are saying some 20 people are still missing, but we don't know how many are trapped," one firefighter said.

Relatives and other residents of the leveled village, which has a population of 5,000, were helping search for survivors.

"There was little wind and then the sky turned red ... suddenly everything went crazy and my roof was blown off," said Babul (eds: one name), 36, who was injured in the storm.

Bahar (eds: one name), 38, said members of his family were injured as their home was flattened, but his 10-month-old daughter escaped unscathed.

"I thank Allah for this miracle," he said.

Meanwhile four people in Bangladesh's northeastern tea-growing Sylhet district and two others in the northern Mymensingh district were killed by lightening Sunday, the Daily Inqilab newspaper reported.

Three others died elsewhere in storms Sunday, it said.

Storms are common during this time of the year across Bangladesh.

In the past three weeks violent storms have left more than a dozen dead, scores injured and hundreds of mud and bamboo homes flattened.

They were also blamed for the sinking of two crowded ferries last month which left more than 180 people dead and scores missing.

The storms have been more severe this year compared to the previous three years, with winds averaging 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour, meteorologists said.

The worst storm so far this season had a windspeed of 116 kilometersmiles) per hour.

SPACE.WIRE