Vehicles move through stagnant water on a road at Kazipara in Dhaka’s Mirpur after several streets in the capital were inundated by torrential rain on Monday. — Ali Hussain Mintu
Heavy rains coupled with thunder and lightning hit many parts of the country including Dhaka on Monday.
At least 16 people were killed and several others injured as lightning hit them in Manikganj, Faridpur, Jhalkathi, Magura, Lalmonirhat, Jaipurhat and Patuakhali.
Meteorology office predicts more rains on Tuesday under the influence of monsoon.
At least 46mm rainfall was recorded in Dhaka in the last 24 hours. Sandwip in Chittagong experienced 65mm rainfall while Sylhet recorded 28mm and Mymensingh 14mm.
In Dhaka, rain caused immense suffering to residence, many of who got stuck into traffic gridlocks for hours as many busy
roads were flooded.
Pedestrians using under-construction roads experienced the worst situation as most of those roads were flooded by rainwater.
Roads in Nikunja, Tejgaon, Karwan Bazar, Farmgate, Agargaon, Mirpur, Rokeya Sharani, Banglamotor and Dhanmondi were hit by flood water.
Abu Sufian, a resident of Mirpur, said it took almost two hours for him to travel to Banglamotor in a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in the afternoon.
‘I was charged almost twice the regular charge as the CNG driver cashed in on my sufferings,’ said Sufian.
Many were not lucky enough to get a vehicle to travel in. Abdur Rahman had to wade through sewage mixed waters, ride rickshaw and then take a bus trip to reach his workplace in Banglamotor from his home in Sher-e-Banglanagar.
‘It is just the beginning of monsoon and we have already suffered a lot due to severe water stagnation,’ said Rahman.
This is second time in less than a week that rain waters swept streets in Dhaka in such a large scale.
Persistent rains since late June also ruined the hopes of roadside cloth traders ahead of Eid.
Those travelling outside Dhaka for celebrating Eid also had to spend hours in the highways due to traffic congestion caused by rains. Reports of a 20-km-long tailback on Dhaka-Tangail Highway were received on Monday.
New Age correspondent in Lalmonirhat reported that Altaf Hossain, 45, and his wife Monwara Begum, 37, residents of Nabinagar village, were killed in lightning strike while working in their groundnut field at about 12:30pm. Their co-worker, Harun, 44, was also injured in the strike.
The New Age Correspondent in Faridpur reported that five people were killed in lightning at Bhabukadia village in Saltha in the district. Helena Begum, 35, and her son Helal, 10, were hit by the lightning while they were in their kitchen at about 12:30pm. They died on the spot. Milon Khan, a farmer from Saltha, was also killed in the lightning strike.
Two other farmers — Kajal Biswas of Char Badhrasho and Omar Faruk of Sadr upazilas — were also killed in another incident of lightning.
Our Manikganj correspondent reported that a child, Ruhul Amin, 8, son of Awlad Hossian of Shibalay, was killed by lightning at about 11:30am.
Our Magura correspondent reported that Asad Sheikh, 50, and Kolomdi Miah, 52, were killed in lightning strikes while they were working at fields at Maghi and Naliadangi in Magura Sadr upazila.
Our Patuakhali correspondent reported that Kader Gazi, 45, a madrassah teacher, died on the spot after being struck by lightning while taking a bath at Shreerampur of Dumki.
The control room at disaster management department received reports of four people getting killed by lightning in Jhalkathi and Jaipurhat.
UNB reported that lightning killed Azad, 40, a resident of Munshir Taluk village under Sadar upazila of Noakhali, while he was working at his poultry farm at about 7:45pm.
Source: New Age
