Flood situation deteriorates:Daily Sun

Homesteads in a low-lying village under Dimla upazila of Nilphamari are still awash with water even after the overflowing Teesta has subsided. banglar chokh Overall flood situations in many districts worsened as the onrushing water from hilly areas, rainwater and tidal surge submersed new areas on Sunday, leaving hundreds of families marooned. Locals said several thousand families got stranded in
the floodwaters in some upazilas of Kurigram, Sherpur, Bogra, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Bhola and Sunamganj. Some villagers were evacuated from some places while others were passing a miserable life in the floodwaters. The people of those areas have been suffering from shortage of pure drinking water and foods. Besides, roads, paddy fields and ponds were washed away by the floodwaters. Sources said the flashfloods caused by heavy rain last week, submerged more areas as the levels of river waters increased due to upstream water. A number of embankments were collapsed in the strike by water surges. The waters inundated several rural northern and eastern areas. Several rivers — Teesta, Jamuna, Surma and Kangshaat — were flowing above danger marks Sunday, said Ripon Karmakar, Assistant Engineer of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC). In Kurigram, many low and char areas of the river Dharla, the Brahmaputra and the Teesta were inundated. So far, 50,000 people and 10,000 hectare of paddy land of the area went under water. Road communications with Sonahat land port was suspended as approach road over the Dudhkumar river collapsed. The waters of Dharla and Brahmaputra rose to 59cm and 51cm respectively while the Teesta was stable, said a local source of BWDB Sunday. In Lalmonirhat, some people took safe shelter on government schools and colleges, but most of the affected people were still stuck. They are yet to get any relief from the government and non-government organisations. Meanwhile, over one lakh people in the district are facing acute crises of food and pure drinking water as some 80 villages were flooded in Hatibandha, Aditmari, Kaliganj, Patgram and Sadar upazilas of the district. In Bogra, the water of Jamuna in Sariakandi was flowing above the danger level by 35 cm and inundated hundreds of houses in low area. In Bhola, so far 600 families were marooned as the tidal water damaged a flood protection dam in Syedpur union in Daulatkhan upazial. Many establishments, including schools, madrasas, mosques, temples and fish farms, went under water in the area because of strong tidal surges in the last couple of days. For this, around 40 villages in seven unions of the upazila were inundated at the advent of the rainy season. Over 4,250 hectare of cultivable land in Charfashion upazila went under water during the last one month, resulting in a loss of Tk 20 crore. In Sherpur, the low areas of 10 villages were submerged due to onrush of water from Meghalaya in India. Thousands of people were marooned. In Gaibandha, 2,000 people of 15 villages were marooned in the floodwaters as the water of the Teesta and Brahmaputra flooded many villages.