Flood woes mount in Sylhet, cohesive approach required

In what experts are calling the worst flooding in fifty years in the region, 80 per cent of Sylhet and 90 per cent of Sunamganj have gone under water due to the ongoing flood, resulting from the inflow of hill water from India and compounded by incessant rainfall.

According to The Business Post report published on Saturday, floodwater entered Kumargaon grid power sub-station in Sylhet at 12:00pm on Saturday, compelling authorities to suspend power supply to the two districts.

The report, alluding to executive engineer of Flood Forecast and Warning Centre, Arifuzzaman Bhuiya, states that the flood situation may turn worse as the meteorologists predict heavy showers during the weekend.

Images of members of the defence forces, working tirelessly to support the flood affected, have been aired by the print and the electronic media. Although it is increasingly becoming clear that in the face of nature’s fury, human efforts often fail to provide the expected results.

However, the fact remains that the Sylhet division is facing an unprecedented crisis and a cohesive approach can be adopted to minimise the suffering and the damage.

The first priority is providing fresh drinking water, which flood affected victims and those stranded have underlined repeatedly. Without fresh water, a variety of health complications will occur, adding another diabolical dimension to the already existing problem of waterlogging.

In this regard, the air force can be called in to drop emergency fresh water plus water purifying tablets in areas where people are totally surrounded by stagnant water. Another important item to send is snake repellent and anti-snake venom serum. The number of snake bites during widespread flooding sees an alarming rise with many children and youngsters falling victim to snake bites. The international development agencies should come forward to support the government in setting up fresh water zones and water purifying stations.

Since power has been cut off, emergency lighting facilities, kerosene lamps, battery run torches have become essential in the affected areas.

Rivers facing an unrelenting flow of water from the other side of the border have burst their banks. Reportedly, the Surma water was flowing 128 cm above its danger mark at Kanaighat point, 77 cm up at Sylhet point, 120 cm above at Sunamganj point at 6am on Saturday while the Sari River was flowing 67 cm above its red mark at the same time. The water level of the Kushiyara river has also increased and the Jadukata river in Sunamganj district is also flowing above its danger level.

From the current picture, it is difficult to hope for the flood situation to improve anytime soon; therefore, the best course of action is to adopt a comprehensive approach to mitigate the woes of the people in Sylhet division. For the time being, water, food, snake anti venom are the top priorities and leading pharmaceutical companies can come forward to send immediate medical supplies along with oral salines, water purifying tablets, to the flood affected areas.

The worst flooding in Sylhet comes less than a month before a major religious festival in Bangladesh, which will see people spending freely to buy sacrificial animals. When fellow citizens are faced with a nature inflicted disaster within the country, it would be sensible from a moral point of view to minimise the celebration and make a collective effort to help those who have lost crops, livelihoods and homes.

Lastly, once the flood water recedes, the government has to ascertain as to why there was a surge of water from the hills across the border and pinpoint possible climate change related causes which may have triggered such a natural calamity.

There is no denying that in the last decade or so Bangladesh has been experiencing what can be termed as extreme weather patterns related to climate change. Understanding this will help minimise future flood damage.