Flood situation aggravates:Daily Sun

The turbulent Jamuna devours almost 50 villages in Sariakandi upazila under Bogra district because the flood barrier gave way under the sheer weight of flood waters on Thursday night. Monirul Islam Maruf Three people have died after being washed away by flooding in Bogra amid a worsening flood situation across the country as new areas went under flood waters on Friday. The continuous swelling of m
ajor rivers and river erosion has inundated more areas in the central and northern regions. “So far, three people died and one went missing after being washed away by flood waters at Sariakandi in Bogra,” said Mohammad Shafiqur Reza Biswas, deputy commissioner of Bogra. “Flood situation has deteriorated farther in Madaripur, Munshiganj, Rajbari, Manikganj, Faridpur, Shariatpur, Gaibandha, Bogra, Sirajganj, Jamalpur and Tangail,” said Amirul Hossain, executive engineer of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre. He also informed that Jamuna, Dhaleswari and Atrai rivers have been flowing above the danger level in Bogra districts’ Bhadurabad, Baghabari, Elasin points on Friday, deteriorating the flood situation further in the areas. Flood situation remains static in Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Rangpur while the situation has improved in some Northeast areas, including Sunamganj, Amirul Hossain said. Some low-lying areas in capital’s Mirpur and Madartek were flooded as local rivers — Buriganga, Shitalakkhya, Turag and Balu — continue to swell. Some 14 major rivers were flowing above the danger level at 20 points while two rivers remained steady on Friday, said a bulletin of Flood Forecasting & Warning Centre (FFWC). The Dharla at Kurigram, the Ghagot at Gaibandha, the Brahmaputra at Chilmari, the Jamuna at Bahadurabad, Sariakandi, Sirajganj, and Aricha are flowing above their danger marks by 34cm, 64 cm, 49cm, 70cm, 97cm, 41cm, and 12cm respectively while the GUR at Singra, the Atrai at Baghabari,the Dhaleswari at Elasin, the Lakhya at Lakhpur, Lakhya at Narayanganj, the Kaliganga at Taraghat, the Padma at Goalundo, Bhagyakul, Sureswar, Surma at Sunamganj, the Kushiyara at Sherpur, the Old Surma at Derai and the Kangsha at Jariajanjail are swelling above their respective danger levels by 3cm, 94cm, 80cm, 82cm, 17cm, 7cm, 24cm, 17cm, 5cm, 10cm, 5cm, 27 and 84cm, said the bulletin. “All major river points except the Ganges are maintaining a rising trend” the bulletin added. Water level of the Brahmaputra-Jamuna and Padma is likely to rise further in next 72 hours while rivers around Dhaka City (Buriganga, Balu, Turag and Tongi Khal) likely to rise in next 72 hour, said Amirul Hossain, adding that Turag at Mirpur point may cross danger level in the next 72 hours. Erosion has taken a serious turn at places and the Water Development Board (WDB) authorities have been working on emergency protection at the damaged points of various flood control embankments. People who have been marooned by the flood are passing days with extreme misery in the wake of the shortages of food and pure drinking water. Locals apprehended an outbreak of diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases. The flood-affected people are suffering much due to lack of adequate relief. Meanwhile, a large number of trees and crops on a vast tract of land were washed away by flood waters and strong current. In Bogra, so far 100 villages have gone under water, lives of around one lakh people have been affected badly as a flood control embankment in Shariakandi upazila of Bogra collapsed in the rushing waters of the Jamuna River on Friday. “The villages under Kamalpur, Kutubpur, Chandanbaisha and Velabari unions of the upazila were flooded afresh following the collapse of the embankment” said Mohammad Shafiqur Reza Biswas, DC of Bogra. Local lawmaker Abdul Mannan provided 13 boats for rescuing the flood-affected people. Government high officials, including Rajshahi Divisional Commissioner Helal Uddin Ahmad visited the flood-hit areas. Flood situation deteriorated in Tangail due to a rise in the water levels of two rivers— Jamuna and Dhaleswari. A total of 50 villages in char areas of the district were flooded in the flood, damaging houses and standing crops, local sources said. 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 6:00am Friday. In Gaibandha, flood situation in chars and Brahmaputra river basin area of four upazilas of the districts deteriorated further as Brahmaputra swelled further in last 24 hours till Friday morning, affecting some 116, 503 people in the area.