Flood heading for Dhaka from North:Daily Star

A home is being dismantled, put on a boat and moved to dry land at Char Gobordhan in Aditmari of Nilphamari yesterday. Photo: Star The monsoonal flood is heading for the capital from the north, after affecting several lakh people in 12 northern districts over the past few days. Water levels of 13 rivers are already flowing above the danger level in northern and northeastern regions, and the onrush
ing flood is likely to submerge some of the low-lying areas around Dhaka and Narayanganj by Monday, according to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC).      But the flood situation is likely to improve by next week across the country and in the northern districts in a day or two. “Water of all four rivers around the capital -- Balu, Turag, Shitalakkhya and Buriganga -- will rise when the flood hits the central part,” said Arif Hossain, deputy director of the FFWC.  Meanwhile, several lakh marooned people in the north continue to pass their days without food and drinking water. The government has allocated 1,500 tonnes of rice alongside cash for the people in the affected districts, including Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Rangpur, Netrokona, Sunamganj, Bogra, Sirajganj, Feni, Chandpur, Manikganj, Nilphamari, Cox's Bazar and Naogaon. But the relief is yet to reach most of the people. Worse still, the authorities have yet to determine the number of affected people, particularly those in the 12 northern districts.    Advertisement “We have asked the local administration to determine the number of affected people and villages and send the information to us,” Rafiqul Islam, an official at the control room of the disaster management and relief, told The Daily Star yesterday. According to the FFWC, water levels in all major rivers, except for the Brahmaputra and the Meghna, are rising. Such rise was recorded at 42 monitoring stations yesterday, while water was flowing above the danger level at 15 points of the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Jamuna, Ghagot, Padma, Kangsa, Dhaleshwari, Shitalakkhya and Surma rivers, submerging nearby villages. Some other districts, including Rajbari, Faridpur, Gopalganj, Manikganj and some places in the Sylhet region, will be freshly affected because the water level of the Ganges will rise in the next two days. In the affected areas, many flood victims have taken shelter on the flood protection embankments or some other places with no food or drinking water. In Lalmonirhat alone, at least 40 villages went under water, affecting more than 80,000 people, our district correspondent reports. The flood situation is deteriorating in the north and more cropland and homes are being inundate. Photo: Star At Dangra under Rajarhat upazila of Kurigram, around two km of the flood protection embankment by the Teesta has been washed away by the flood. A flood shelter called Thutapaipkar, a market named Tayab Kha Bazar and two schools -- Daldalia Govt Primary School and Kalirhat Govt Primary School -- are under threats from river erosion in the district. Besides, about 250 chars have been inundated due to rising water of the Brahmaputra, our Kurigram correspondent said. In Jamalpur, some 9,787 hectares of cropland went under water affecting Aus, Aman, transplant Aman, sugarcane and vegetables fields, our district correspondent reports, citing officials of the agricultural extension department. Around 300 families remained marooned in Islampur, the worst hit upazila of the district.