Bangladesh death toll from landslides and storms has risen to at least 134 while emergency workers are still looking for more bodies.

The search was focused on two sites in the southern port city of Chittagong, according to AFP.

"We are expecting to find more bodies because according to the neighbors there were several houses in each of these two places," said Major Moeen, of the army's incident control room.

Nine more bodies were recovered on Wednesday. The search will be resumed on Thursday, officials said.

The landslides, triggered by several days of continuous monsoon rains, struck early Monday as people in the city of 1.5 million slept.

Officials said 123 bodies had been recovered from under the mud, while 10 people also died in lightning strikes during severe storms. One person was electrocuted in floodwaters.

Rains which hindered the search for victims had stopped and floodwaters have receded from most parts of Chittagong.

The army had provided tents inside the city's cantonment, or military district, to house around 300 homeless people, officials added.

Experts have said that landslides in Bangladesh are an inevitable consequence of the common practice of leveling hills for housing in Chittagong.

The head of Bangladesh's military-backed emergency government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, visited the city Tuesday and vowed that his administration would take measures to stop illegal hill clearing.

PDM/HAR