As the sun came out Saturday in Sylhet after four more days of heavy rain, the water level in all rivers and flood-hit areas started receding but that hardly eased the non-stop struggle of the flood-affected people.
Many of them in different areas have been cut off by waterlogging, since mid-June with food and fresh water crises still persisting.
Until Friday morning total fatalities from the devastating flood rose to 95 with three more deaths from drowning and lightning strikes in the country, said the Directorate General of Health Services DGHS).
According to the Water Development Board (WDB) in Sylhet, from Friday 6:00am to Saturday 9:00am water level of the Surma River decreased by 11cm at Sylhet point and 10cm at Kanaighat point.
Meanwhile, the water level of Kushiara River lowered 16cm at Amalsid point, 5cm at Sheola point, and 2cm at Fenchuganj point. Lobha, Sari, and Dhalai rivers were also showing a receding trend.
Sylhet WDB Executive Engineer Asif Ahmed said, “The water is receding slowly and the flood situation is not expected to deteriorate in the next few days.”
Due to heavy rains from June 15 and upstream water running down from India, Sylhet and other north-eastern districts of the country faced the most devastating flood in living memory.
For almost 17 days, 80 per cent of the district remained under water and normal life there came to a complete standstill.
As tube wells of the flood-hit region also submerged, an extreme crisis of drinkable water and food became imminent in Sylhet.
“Total 99 unions of 13 upazilas in the district were flooded. Of the 35,000 government tube wells in the district, 27,000 were submerged along with 2,000 more private ones,” said Alamgir Hossain, executive engineer of district Department of Public Health Engineering.
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He said, “Eight mobile water treatment plants with capacity to supply 5,000 litres of water each have been received from the government. Of those, six has been distributed to flood-hit Sylhet city, Companiganj, Gowainghat, Kanaighat, Bishwanath, Fenchuganj and another two have been kept in reserve.
“We are campaigning to teach the steps to purify tube well water after flood water recedes,” he added.
Ismail Ali, a resident of Tererton area in the city, said, “For eight days my house was under water and we just started cleaning the house today.”
He mentioned another problem that came up with receding water — an all-encompassing, unbearable stench from rotten wastes.
Sylhet City Corporation Chief Engineer Nur Azizur Rahman said, “The city corporation is conducting a cleaning drive of the garbage from the canal and other water bodies. The whole city will be cleaned with bleaching powder.”
Mukul Ahmed, a trader from Bangabir road, said, “Though water went down from my shop, the roads remained submerged for the 17th day. My business has completely gone down and I don't know how many days the situation will remain like this.”
