Home ›› 03 Jul 2022 ›› Governance
Officials predicted less possibility of fresh flooding in Bangladesh till mid-July simultaneously they said the ongoing flood may longer due to slow passing of water through major rivers and their tributaries.
“Both northern and northeastern parts of Bangladesh witnessed severe flooding on June 15, this year and vast swaths of these regions are still reeling from catastrophic impact of the deluge as a result of slow receding of water,” Pritom Kumar Sarkar, assistant engineer of Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) told BSS.
But the flood situation in north and northwestern worsened further after swelling of major rivers as inside Bangladesh and upstream regions recorded heavy downpour in late June, he added.
Water levels at 58 river stations monitored by Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) have marked rise while 47 stations recorded fall.
Among the 109 monitored river stations, four have been registered steady while water levels at five stations are flowing above the danger level, a bulletin issued by the FFWC said.
The Surma at Kanaighat, the Kushiyara at Amalshid and Sheola, the Old Surma at Derai, and the Someswari at Kalmakanda are flowing above the danger level by 49cm, 67 cm, 23cm, 13cm and 30cm respectively.
Significant rainfall was recorded at some stations in different districts during the last 24 hours ending at 9:00am Saturday, the bulletin added.
A total of 148 mm (millimeter) rainfalls were recorded at Teknaf, 90 mm at Bogra and 85 mm at Faridpur.
Significant rainfalls (mm) were also recorded during last 24 hours in Sikkim, Arunachal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura regions of North-East India, the bulletin added.
A total of 52 mm rainfalls were registered at Cherrapunji (Meghalaya), 37mm at Jalpaiguri (West Bangal) and 37 mm at Darjeeling (West Bengal).
The Brahmaputa- Jamuna rivers are in rising, which may continue rising in next 24 hours, the FFWC bulletin said adding All major rivers in the north-eastern region of the country are in falling trend, which may continue falling in next 48 hours.
The Ganges-Padma river is in rising trend, which may continue rising in next 72 hours. Flood situation in Kurigram, Sylhet, Sunamganj, Netrokona, Kishoreganj & Brahmanbaria districts in Bangladesh may improve in next 24 hours.
Waterborne diseases are spreading in the flood-hit regions of Bangladesh as floodwater started receding.
“Many people are suffering from diarrhoea, skin diseases, dysentery, cholera and other waterborne diseases,” Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) officials said.
In the past 24 hours, a total of 324 people have been affected by diarrhoea in four flood-hit divisions –Sylhet, Rangpur, Chattogram and Mymensingh – while 54 people have also suffered from skin diseases, a press release issued by the DGHS said.
To provide healthcare supports to the flood affected regions of the country, as many as 2,047 medical teams have been working since beginning of the flood, it added.
Monsoon rains and gushing waters from upstream India worsened Bangladesh flood situation with experts calling it one of the worst floods while millions of people have been affected by the deluge, Md. Arifuzzaman Bhuyan, executive engineer of the FFWC, said.
Northeastern and northern parts of Bangladesh may witness prolonged flood as record breaking rainfalls were recorded inside Bangladesh and upstream states of India during the ongoing flood situation.
“We have seen that both Bangladesh and upstream states of Meghalaya and Assam and western Himalayan regions of India recorded heavy rainfall, the highest over 100 years,” Professor Md Mansur Rahman of Institute of Water and Flood Management of BUET said.
Major rivers and their tributaries of Bangladesh have no capacity to contain such huge volume of rains, which ultimately has caused massive flooding in northeastern and northern regions of the country, he added.
Mansur said there is a huge gap between Bangladesh and upstream regions of India in terms of elevation from sea level. “So, onrush of water enters Bangladesh with a faster pace, which inundated vast areas of the country in a shorter time,” he added.
The hydrologist said a large number of embankments have been built in both Bangladesh and Indian regions to control flow of water of major rivers which are the main reasons for increasing frequency of flooding.
The ongoing flood in Meghna basin may prolong as “The only exit point of flood water is Bhairab at the Megna river will take much time to pass such huge volume of flood water into the Bay of Bangal... meaning flood in northeastern region is likely to be prolonged, if the heavy downpour continue.”
