A 122 mm of rainfall brought life in Dhaka city to a standstill on Thursday night and led to casualties, while other parts of the country also grappled with waterlogging as rain swept across several districts, starting at 6pm.
Four people, including three from the same family, lost their lives due to electrocution in Dhaka's Mirpur. The incident occurred on the opposite side of Jhilpar Slum, adjacent to Commerce College.
The incessant downpour led to severe waterlogging in various areas of Dhaka city, leaving commuters stranded for hours and facing significant difficulties. Streets were inundated, and major roads experienced traffic congestion.
Numerous areas in the capital, including Mirpur 10, Mirpur 11, Shyamoli, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Purana Paltan, Gulistan, Old Dhaka, Bangshal Road, Bijoy Sarani, Eskaton, Farmgate, and Tejgaon, were submerged in floodwaters.
Meteorological officials attributed the persistent rainfall and thunderstorms in Dhaka city to a low-pressure area over the Northwest Bay and adjoining regions, now situated over Jharkhand, India.
Hafizur Rahman, a meteorologist from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), reported that 122 mm of rainfall was recorded in the capital, with rain continuing until around 12am.
At the time of filing this report on Friday, several parts of the capital, including Bongshal, Siddik Bazar, Dhaka University (DU) area, New Market and some areas of Khilgaon, Rampura, and Old Dhaka, were still underwater.
A heart-wrenching video circulated on social media platforms Thursday night, showing a seven-year-old child being rescued from the floodwaters in the Mirpur area.
Tragically, the child's parents and sister lost their lives due to electrocution in the water, while the child was found unconscious. In the video, one local resident is seen pulling the child out of the stagnant water, while others attempt to rescue additional victims using bamboo pipes.
Office-goers, particularly those employed in the private sector, endured tremendous hardships while returning home amidst the heavy rainfall and ensuing traffic gridlock, given that their work hours extend into the night.
Shams Rahman, a journalist at New Age, shared his experience, saying, "I arrived home at 2:37am, four hours after I boarded the bus."
He expressed frustration at the city's inadequate public infrastructure, and said, “This cursed city, with no development done for the public, took four lives today (at least). Among them was a baby.”
Tanjila Tasnim, a student at DU and a resident of Bangladesh Kuwait Maitree Hall, reported that the hall's premises remained submerged in water.
"We are unable to move from one building to another. We have been grappling with water logging issues for an extended period now," she lamented.
The country's maximum rainfall for the last 24 hours till 6am Friday was recorded by 157 millimeters (mm) at Netrokona.
BMD has issued forecasts of further rainfall across the country in the next 24 hours.
According to the Met office, "Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty winds are likely to occur in most places over Rajshahi, Rangpur, Mymensingh, and Sylhet divisions, as well as other areas within Dhaka, Khulna, Barishal, and Chattogram divisions, with moderately heavy to very heavy rainfall expected in some places within Rangpur, Rajshahi, and Mymensingh divisions."
Students suffer as DU dorms still waterlogged
Meanwhile, heavy rain since Thursday evening has left two halls of DU waterlogged and students of those halls are still suffering from serious problems as the electricity supply has been cut off.
The two halls are Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib hall and Bangladesh Kuwait Maitree hall. Both of the halls are situated near Azimpur Graveyard at New Market area.
Talking to the students of these two halls, it has been learnt that the halls have been waterlogged since the early hours of Friday.
Some rooms on the ground floor of Kuwait Maitree hall were waterlogged and the students of ground floors were shifted to upper stories. When a fridge at a shop of Kuwait Maitree hall exploded, the electricity supply was cut off. As a result students are suffering from the shortage of drinking water.
Labonno Tasfy, a resident student at Kuwait Maitree halls, said, "I never imagined being in such a situation. There is no electricity for the last 12 hours, no drinking water, and no water in washrooms."
"If it rains again today, I do not know what will be the situation. The water level remains the same since the rain stopped," she added.
Around Friday noon, DU authorities hired water vehicles from Dhaka WASA to provide clean water and food was cooked in the canteens.
As a consequence of Thursday’s heavy rain, vast areas of DU were waterlogged including the roads at Hall Para, VC Chattar to Nilkhet, Jahurul Haque Hall premises, Salimullah Hall premises and frontier roads, some parts of Shamsunnahar Hall.
Kuwait Maitree hall Provost Prof Nazmun Nahar said, "We and our students are suffering a lot. As we do not have regular electricity line, we cannot pump drinking water. On the other hand drinking water that we have may run out soon. However, we talked to WASA and they will provide us water."
"We have managed to secondary electricity line which is very limited. If it runs out and it rains again today, the situation will worsen and I think we will not be able to start our regular electricity line until logged water is removed," she added.
DU Proctor Prof Maksudur Rahman said, "We are trying to normalise the situation. Three teams of the city corporation are working to hatch water from the area. Temporarily, we are managing water from WASA."
