With the water levels of major rivers expected to fall from today, the floods in the country’s north-east and west are likely to be over in the next few days, Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) sources said yesterday. FFWC flood watcher Sazzad Hossain said the situation looked positive since the heavy rains in the upstream of Brahmaputra has waned, leading to a slide in the water level of Jamuna in the northern region. Moreover, the Ganges will start falling from today at its entry point in Bangladesh at Chapai Nawabganj, he added.

Quoting the Indian Meteorological Department’s forecast till August 30, Hossain said there were no chances of any heavy rain in the neighbouring country’s eastern and north-eastern areas from Arunachal to Assam.

This is good news for Bangladesh since Brahmaputra, which flows down from these Indian states into the country, won’t be swollen by rainfall in the hills that had earlier caused havoc for over a week in northern Bangladesh, the FFWC official said.

According to FFWC readings at 9 am yesterday, Brahmaputra and Jamuna were likely to slide in the next 72 hours. Although the Ganges may continue to rise in the next 24 hours, it would become stable thereafter. That may result in the Padma downstream to fall in the next 48 hours.

Hossain said Padma’s water level has begun falling at Goalundo and Bhagyakul, recording slides of 10 cm and 6 cm, respectively.

He added that as the river wanes, the situation may also start improving in central regions like Shariatpur.

The FFWC readings revealed that the position of Jamuna has improved substantially at Bahadurabad in Jamalpur and Sariakandi in Bogra, where the devastation by the river was notable. The water level of the river marked falls of 19 cm at Bahadurabad and 17 cm at Sariakandi.

Up in the north-east, the twin flows of River Barak from the north-east Indian state of Manipur that become Surma and Kushiyara in Bangladesh have slowly started waning, falling 16 cm at Kanaighat and 15 cm at Amalshid in Sylhet.

They are, however, still running 25 cm and 18 cm above their respective danger levels. The rivers may continue falling in the next 24 hours. Meanwhile, rains in the country also continued to wane. The highest rainfall of 32 mm till 6 am yesterday was recorded in Chittagong. Sylhet only received 4 cm of rainfall. Dhaka received some scattered showers late in the afternoon.

According to the Met office forecast, there was no possibility of heavy showers today. There would only be some scattered rain at one or two places in the country.