Gideon Mendel's photographs of a Drowning World – in pictures

Bihar, India: Urmila Devi, Sangeeta Devi, Marni Devi and Nago Devi sit on a bed above floodwaters in the village of Chajan Mania near Muzaffarpur. Fishing communities are usually some of the most vulnerable people in times of floods as they live close to rivers Photograph: Gideon Mendel

Bihir, India: Chinta Davi and her daughter Samundri Davi after an excursion to buy cooking oil in the flooded village of Salempur. In Bihar alone, more than 515 people have died and at least 2 million people in the province now live outdoors as a result of the extreme monsoon flooding Photograph: Gideon Mendel

Doncaster, UK: Graham Leith and his son Kieran in the flooded house of his mother Doreen Leith, in Toll Bar village. Doreen's son and grandchild had come back to her home to search for insurance papers. This was one of the communities flooded when a freak storm unleashed a deluge of rain on parts of northern England in which more than four inches of rain fell in 24 hours Photograph: Gideon Mendel

Doncaster, UK: Margaret Clegg surveys the floodwaters inside her home in Toll Bar village. She had recently put down a new floor in her kitchen, new carpets, installed new doors and purchased her new lounge suite Photograph: Gideon Mendel

Haiti: Christa Raymond Fils and her husband Salomon Raymond Fils whose house was flooded by Hurricane Gustav. During the hurricane season of 2008 Haiti was subjected to four destructive hurricanes in the space of 20 days Photograph: Gideon Mendel

Gonaives, Haiti: A boy pauses for a moment as he works on cleaning the mud out of his flooded home two weeks after Hurricanes Ike and Hanna. At this point much of the water, which had covered most houses in the town, had receded leaving the town struggling to deal with the remaining residue of thick stinking mud Photograph: Gideon Mendel

Gonaives, Haiti: Workers Ledix Finep and Jeanvier Cassimer try to clear the mud out of a small dry cleaning business. At this point most of the water had receded after Hurricanes Ike and Hanna Photograph: Gideon Mendel