Flood situation worsens across country

Several lakh people have been marooned

BD-Flood_0_3_0

Flood situation in the country has deteriorated further as fresh areas were engulfed by flood water due to rise of water levels in all major rivers during the past couple of days.

According to a bulletin issued by Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC), flood situation in the districts of Shariatpur, Madaripur, Munshiganj, Rajbari, Faridpur, may continue to slightly deteriorate in next 48 hours.

Flood situation in the district of Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Nilphamari, Rangpur, Netrokona, Sunamganj may continue to improve and flood situation in the districts of Gaibandha, Bogra, Sirajganj, Jamalpur and Tangail may remain steady in next 48 hours, the FFWC bulletin added.

Among the 83 monitored water level stations, water levels at 20 monitored river stations are flowing above their respective danger marks while two river stations have remained steady, a bulletin issued by FFWC said today.

In Bogra, overall flood situation in the district has furthered worsened as 300 metres embankment were wiped out due to strong current of the Jamuna river.

Nearly 50 villages under Sariakandi upazila went under water as embankment at Chandanbaisha was collapsed. Over one lakh people of the villages have been marooned, officials and local sources said.

After collapsing the embankment, the marooned people are being shifted to the safer places. Many of them took shelter to roads and other high land areas with their belongings.

In Tangail, flood situation in the district has deteriorated due to rise of water levels of two rivers– Jamuna and Dhaleswari.

A total of 50 villages in char areas of the district were flooded damaging houses and standing crops, local sources said.

They said flood situation of 15 union parishads under Bhuyanpur, Gopalpur, Tangail Sadar, Delduar and Basail upazilas have remained unchanged.

Nearly 500 houses under Nagarpur upazila along the Jamuna and the Dhaleswari were eroded during the past couple of days displacing few thousands of people.

In Rangpur, over 7.8 lakh people of 1.78 lakh families have so far been marooned following further deterioration of flood situation due to inundation of fresh areas in the Brahmaputra basin during the past 24 hours till 6am today.

Besides, erosion has damaged over 20,000 houses totally or partially and standing crops on 62,000 hectares of land have submerged in Kurigram, Gaibandha, Bogra, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Sirajganj districts, official sources said.

In Gaibandha, flood situation in chars and Brahmaputra river basin area of four upazilas in the district deteriorated further as Brahmaputra marked rise in last 24 hours till this morning.

The officials of Bangladesh Water Development Board said water level of the river Brahmaputra increased by 10 cm during the period due to onrush of hilly waters from the upstream and incessant rainfall and was flowing 24 cm above the danger level at Fulchharighat point.

The chars and river basin areas of Kapasia and Chandipur unions under Sundarganj upazila, Kamarjani and Mollarchar unions under Sadar upazila, Fazlupur, Erendabari, Gozaria, Fulchhari and Urya unions under Fulchhari upazila and Holdia and Saghata unions under Saghata upazila have been inundated leaving 1, 16, 503 people marooned.

Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension Mir Abdur Razzak said 3,079 hectares of cropland of 29 unions of four upazilas went under flood water.

A total of over 100 government primary schools of four upazilas in the district were closed as the flood water entered into the schools, said district primary education officer AKM Amirul Islam.

Talking to the news agency deputy commissioner M. Ehsan-e-Elahi said the Ministry of Relief and Disaster Management has allocated a total of 500 tonnes of rice and Tk 11 lakh for the flood victims.

Some 298 tonnes of rice and Taka 5,83,500 had already been distributed among the flood victims, he said.

Source: Dhaka Tribune