With forecasts of rain to persist till June 6, the ongoing flood situation in the north-eastern region is set to worsen through the period, potentially affecting lives ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest Muslim religious festival.
June 7, the Eid day, however, would remain dry and sunny almost all over Bangladesh with a very slim chance of light rain, forecasters said.
Four of the five north-eastern rivers that were flowing above their danger marks further swelled, reported the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre in its last reporting cycle covering the 24 hours ending at 8:30am on Tuesday.
‘It is likely that some areas will remain still flooded on the Eid day in the north-eastern region,’ said Sarder Udoy Raihan, FFWC executive engineer.
The onrush of water from the upstream region in India into these rivers has forced several hundred families to move to safety, including flood shelter centres, New Age staff correspondent in Sylhet reported.
Udoy Raihan said on Tuesday that rain was likely to continue in the north-eastern Sylhet division and its adjacent areas in the upstream in India over the next two days.
According to the Water Development Board, the Kushiyara River was flowing 194cm above the danger level at Amalshid point of Jakiganj upazila at 6:00pm Tuesday, 48cm above the danger level at Shewla point in Beanibazar upazila and 56cm above at Fenchuganj upazila. At the same hour, the Surma River was flowing 99cm above the danger mark at Kanaighat upazila, freshly inundating low-lying areas in Sylhet district.
According to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre’s last reporting cycle covering the 24 hours ending at 8:30am on Tuesday, the water level in the Manu River in Moulvibazar dropped by 32cm but still flowed 35cm above the danger mark.
The Kushiyara River water has already engulfed vast swathes of land, flooding over a 8km stretch of dyke in Jakiganj upazila, marooning more than 75,000 people in over 100 villages, local
people said.
Jamal Uddin, a resident of Khalachhara union in the upazila, told New Age that maximum homes of their union were submerged as the Kushiyara flowed over the dyke.
‘Affected families do not want to go to the shelter centres, leaving their house insecure ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. They are trying as hard as they can to stay back’ he said.
Jakiganj upazila nirbahi officer Md Mahbubur Rahman told New Age at about 4:00pm that about 50 flood-stricken families took shelter at several flood shelter centres from different areas of the upazila.
He said that they kept ready 57 shelter centres in the upazila and a control room was also opened to provide necessary assistance to the families taking shelter.
New Age correspondent in Brahmanbaria reported that floodwater receded between Monday night and Tuesday. Many villages emerged from under water. About 450 families have become marooned in flood in 19 villages in the district following heavy rain.
While heavy rain continued in the country’s north-east region, the India Meteorological Department reported excessive rain in adjacent upstream areas as well.
Tripura recorded 224 per cent more rain than normal, followed by Mizoram recording 201 per cent excess rainfall, Nagaland 135 per cent, Sikkim 82 per cent, Meghalaya 69 per cent, and Arunachal Pradesh 49 per cent.
The IMD predicted the rain to continue in the upstream areas over the next week with chances of scattered heavy to very heavy rain.
In the long range forecast, Bangladesh Meteorological Department said that the country saw an average 62.9 per cent of more rainfall in May than normal with an average record of 486mm of rainfall in its eight divisions.
Of the divisions, Sylhet saw 127.3 per cent of excessive rainfall in May with 1200mm of rainfall recorded against 528mm of the average normal rainfall.
In the past 24 hours till 6:00am on June 1, the BMD said that Sylhet witnessed 405mm of rain, the highest-ever rain recorded in the 24-hour time span ever since the weather station in Sylhet was established in 1956. The previous record of 24-hour rain was 362mm in 2000.
The ongoing spell of rain was triggered by a depression that moved onto land from the Bay of Bengal on May 29.
The BMD predicted flood in northern, north-east and south-east regions in June.
A mild heatwave was sweeping over Khulna division, the BMD said.
