The country’s major rivers have started showing a downward trend after rising suddenly. They started to rise menacingly following heavy rain upstream of the Brahmaputra, Barak and the Teesta in north-eastern India. However, the Ganges to the north-west did not mark any rise as it did during the floods of July and August.

The Brahmaputra rose following two days of heavy rain in Arunachal and Assam, which came under a renewed fury of floods last week, causing havoc along the river banks. Downstream, where it takes the name of Jamuna, the river rose sharply in the districts of Jamalpur and Sirajganj, nearly touching its danger level.

However, the river became stable yesterday (Tuesday), the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) executive engineer, Sazzad Hossain, said in the afternoon.

It would not rise further, he told The Independent.

He said the Assam situation is becoming stable and so is the Jamuna downstream. The Jamuna was flowing at 12.92 metres, below its danger level of 13.35 metres, at Sirajganj. Other rivers like the Teesta, Surma and the Kushiyara also marked a downward trend, he added.

The Surma, taking in the flows of rain-fed Barak in Manipur, also pushed its twin, the Kushiyara, in Sylhet to rise too.

However, the Surma was flowing 159cm below its danger level at Sylhet. So was the Kushiyara at Zakiganj, where the Barak river enters Bangladesh in Sylhet, splitting into the Surma and Kushiyara. The latter was flowing 138cm below its danger level at Zakiganj.

With the monsoon nearing its end, the rivers would not pose any further danger, Sazzad said.

The Met Office yesterday forecast little rain at a few places in Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna, Barisal and Chittagong in the next 24 hours beginning at 9am on Tuesday.

But there was no warning of heavy to very heavy falls until a seasonal low or depression in the Bay rejuvenates the monsoon that is preparing to withdraw from the country, Hafizur Rahman, a meteorologist at the Dhaka Met Office, said yesterday.

The October projection for rain by the Met Office on Monday said rain would be normal during the month, though there may be a couple of lows brewing a cyclone forming in the Bay that may spur some rain.