Homes go under water at Belka of Sundarganj upazila in Gaibandha as floods grip the north. The photo was taken yesterday. Photo: Star Floodwaters have washed away some 200 houses, damaged crops of over 10,000 hectares in northern Kurigram district and rendered more than one lakh people marooned. Flood situation continued to worsen as almost all the rivers in the district saw their water levels inc
rease yesterday. Of the flood-affected northern districts, Rangpur, Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari saw water receding, but people there are now suffering from a food and drinking water shortage. “This is the peak of the flooding season Bangladesh is facing now,” said Amirul Hossain, executive engineer of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC). “The trend is likely to continue for the next three to four days,” he told The Daily Star yesterday. The water of the Jamuna in Bahadurabad and Baghabari of Sirajganj, Sariakandi in Bogra and Dewanganj in Jamalpur was flowing above the danger level, according to FFWC of the Water Development Board (WDB). The Ghaghat river in Gaibandha and Kanaighat in Sylhet and the Surma in Sylhet were also overflowing alarmingly. Advertisement “My house has been submerged by flood water from the Brahmaputra river. Now I am shifting my cattle to no-man's land ... between border pillars,” said Afan Uddin, 65, of Pakhiurer Char in Nageswari upazila of Kurigram. Another flood victim Jakir Hossain, 35, of Char Bhagabatipur under Kurigram sadar, said he had shifted his belongings five times, and was now living on an embankment. At Baniajan in Dhunat of Bogra, fifty metres of an embankment broke down yesterday due to the heavy current and erosion at the west basin of the Jamuna river. About 8 km of a dyke from Kamalpur to Devdanga is at risk of collapse because of the erosion for the last few weeks. The situation of the area is alarming, said Executive Engineer of WDB, Bogra Nurul Islam, adding that the WDB had been placing sand bags to prevent erosion. Meanwhile, new areas were inundated in Gaibandha as the Ghagot and Teesta rivers there continued to flow above the danger level. About 9,000 people have been marooned in Teesta and Jamuna basins. Cracks developed on more than 200 feet of Gaibandha Town Protection Dyke along Ghagot in Dashani due to rising water. WDB has been dumping sand bags and setting bamboo piling to prevent water from entering the area, said Khairul Islam, section officer of WDB, Gaibandha. In Rangpur district, people who took shelter on government roads, schools and colleges are now returning home. “We have little food with us, and almost no drinking water. But, nobody has come up with any relief yet,” said Mokim, 60, of Char Dhushmara village of Kaumnia upazila, whose house had been washed away by floods. Habibur Rahman, Dahagram-Angorpota union parishad (UP) chairman of Patgram upazila in Lalmonirhat, said more than 4,000 people in his union had been suffering for the last four days, and that he personally had distributed dry foods. Hatibandha upazila's Sindurna UP Chairman Khatib Uddin said he had not received any relief from the upazila administration for the flood-affected people in his union. As many as 42 tonnes of rice has been allocated for the flood-affected people, which will be distributed soon, said Lalmonirhat Deputy Commissioner Habibur Rahman. With the Teesta water receding, river erosion has taken a serious turn in 10 villages of Jaldhaka upazila of Nilphamari. Ten acres of cultivable land was eroded in one day. People here are also facing a crisis of fodder for their livestock.
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