Rains cause flooding in many areas
Heavy monsoon rains across the country continued to wreak havoc as flash floods in the Muhuri river inundated new areas in Feni and other low-lying areas in Kurigram. Even Dhaka city streets got flooded. Though, water level in the Muhuri, the Sangu and the Matamuhuri started receding later in the afternoon, helping to improve the situation, the danger of more areas getting flooded remains intact in the next two to three days, the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) in-charge, Amirul Hossain, told The Independent yesterday. The Brahmaputra-Jamuna and the Padma too swelled up as water level increased in the upstream regions due to heavy rains.
The ferocity of monsoon might start diminishing from today. That might help improve the flash-flood situation in the north and south eastern parts of the country, said sources in the Met department.
While the flood waters have started receding in Bandarban as rains abated since yesterday, but downstream in two upazilas of Feni, the swollen Muhuri and Kohua pushed flood waters in at least 30 villages after breaking through the flood protection barriers, news reports said.
In northern Kurigram, heavy rains flooded many low-lying areas of the town and the Dharla was flowing over the danger level, threatening homes and croplands.
The FFWC official said that major rivers in the country such as the Brahmaputra-Jamuna and the Ganges Padma would continue to rise due to heavy rains in the upstream regions. Already, the Brahmaputra has flooded vast areas in Assam in India.
Eventually, the flood waters from there would flow down the river into Bangladesh, increasing the water volume in the Jamuna.
The Padma, in particular, inched towards the danger level in Bhaggyakul.
Meanwhile, 88 mm of downpour overnight flooded many areas in Dhaka. The low-lying area bore the maximum brunt of the heavy showers, flooding some of the major thoroughfares in the city till the water receded in the afternoon. Shantinagar and the VIP road in front of hotel Sonargaon were the worst affected areas in the capital.
The capitals drainage system was built to handle 10mm of rain that flushes rain water through a network of canals into the flood-flow area. But encroachments and construction of high-rise buildings by real estate developers have obliterated all but around 13 of the citys Mughal-era canals and flood channels.
But these 13 canals are unable to deal with the volume of rain water as encroachers have destroyed the drainage system, leaving the citizens to deal with the misery of flooded streets.
