Country's northeastern regions, especially Sylhet and Sunamganj may witness floods, if the current rising trend of the major rivers continues for the next few days. ‘Low-lying areas of northeastern parts of the country may get flooded as the Brahmaputra-Jamuna, Ganges-Padma and Surma-Kushiyara are on the rise due to heavy rainfall, ‘Sarder Udoy Raihan, Sub-Divisional Engineer of Flood Forecasting and warning Centre, told Bangladesh Post on Friday.
‘The rising trend of the major rivers may continue for the next three to four days as two Indian states -- Assam and Arunachal -- are also experiencing heavy rainfall, meaning northeastern regions of Bangladesh may be inundated by flood,’ he added. Low-lying areas of the country are normally affected by floodwater during the months of July and August, Sarder Udoy Raihan said adding, ‘We are forecasting that flood may hit the country this month as monsoon is very active over Bangladesh.’
According to Met office, monsoon trough runs through Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal to North Bay. One of its associated troughs extends to Assam across central part of Bangladesh. Monsoon is active over Bangladesh and moderate over North Bay. Light to moderate rain/thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at most places over Mymensingh, Rangpur and Sylhet divisions, at many places over Dhaka, Khulna & Barishal divisions and at some places over Rajshahi and Chattogram divisions with moderately heavy to heavy rainfalls at places over the country.
Meanwhile, in Sunamganj the water level in the bordering rivers including Surma has increased due to continuous downpour for the last three days. On Friday morning, water level at Shologhor Point of Surma increased to 68 centimeters above the danger level. According to sources from the Water Development Board, due to non-stop flashfloods in the upstream that increased water levels in the rivers, different low-lying residential areas including Nabingarh, Bananipara, Shologhor, Tegharia, Baropara and Bilpar of Sunamganj town have been flooded. Water levels of the rivers might rise more in the next 24 hours, said officials.
Locals said about 4 kilometers of road stretching from Sunamganj to Tahirpur upazila have become submerged. The water levels in haors and rivers have risen and the lower regions of Tahirpur, Dowarabazar upazila and others have become inundated, causing more than one lakh residents to suffer. Water Development Board executive engineer Abu Bakr Siddiq said, the river levels have gone up above danger levels. He added that there is a high chance of a big flood if the rain continues unabatedly.
In Lalmonirhat, erosion by the Dharala River has devoured 120 meters road at Wapda Bazar in Kulaghat union parishad of sadar upazila, snapping road communications with four villages. The road which collapsed on Wednesday is causing untold sufferings to over 4000 residents of four villages –Shiber Kuthi, Dharmapal, Boalmari and Char Kharua.
Officials of Roads and Highways Department and local people suffer huge pressure of water in the river after recent rains and upstream water flow caused 120 meters road to collapse. According to locals, the road went into the gorge of the river due to rise of water level triggered by constant rain over the last couple of days and onrush of water from the upstream.
