Many houses, rural roads and educational institutions in different upazilas of Moulvibazar district have gone under floodwater due to heavy rains and onrush of water from India, leaving over 2.5 lakh people marooned.
The miseries of the flood-affected people know no bounds as vast areas in different upazilas, including Kulaura, Juri, Kamalganj, Srimangal, Rajnagar and Sadar, of the district have been inundated.
Apart from this, road communication with Sylhet has been suspended. But the Water Development Board (WDB) said the water has started to recede.
Locals said heavy rains and onrush of hilly water from the upstream have caused the erosion of the defence embankment in several places of Manu and Dhalai rivers. On Wednesday night in Kamalganj upazila, a portion of the dam on the bank of Dhalai river was damaged again, inundating a few more villages.
On the other hand, several villages in Kulaura upazila were submerged after the Tilagaon defence dam on the bank of the Manu river was damaged. Several villages under Tengra, Kamarchak, Mansurnagar and Rajnagar Sadar Unions in Rajnagar Upazila have been flooded due to the erosion of the Manu river.
According to the Moulvibazar Water Development Board (WDB), at 9:00am on Thursday, the Manu river in the district was flowing 105 cm above the danger mark at Railway Bridge point while 115 cm at Chandnighat point. The Dhalai river was flowing 32 cm above the danger level and the Juri river was flowing 190 cm above the danger level. The water of the Kushiara river was flowing 5 cm above the danger level.
District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Mohammad Chhadu Mia said about 5,000 people have gone to the shelter centres so far. A total of 1,050 metric tons of rice and Tk 25 lakh in cash have been allocated to help the flood victims.
Police Superintendent of Moulvibazar Md Manjur Rahman said, "Additional police have been deployed to protect the town and people's lives."
Executive Engineer of Moulvibazar Water Development Board Md Javed Iqbal said the water of all the rivers of Moulvibazar is currently flowing above the danger level. The water started receding from Thursday morning. When the rain decreases, the water will go down. Apart from this, work is going on in the places where the dams have broken.
He also said that Sylhet's chief engineer Md Shafiqul Islam and Moulvibazar supervising engineer Abdul Momin were constantly monitoring the situation on behalf of the Water Development Board.
