Due to the low pressure created in the sea, the Bhola char area is being flooded with high tide water. This has submerged the Bhola ferry pier. Gusty winds have been blowing since Friday morning, and it is raining heavily. Launch movement has been suspended on six waterways of Bhola as warning signal number 3 has been issued on the Sagar and Meghna rivers.
According to Bhola Meteorological Office sources, due to the formation of low pressure in the sea, gusty winds are blowing in coastal areas including Bhola along with rainfall. Due to this, the seaport has been asked to display warning signal number 3. The rivers of Bhola have been asked to display warning signal number 1.
According to Bhola Water Development Board (PAUBO) sources, the height of the tide in the Meghna on Friday was 3.70 meters. Due to the tide rising 70 centimeters above the danger level, the char and low-lying areas are being flooded. The gangways of the high-water and low-water ferry ghats of Bhola’s Elisha ferry ghat are sinking. Due to this, vehicle drivers are facing problems in ferry boarding and disembarking.
Bhola River Port Assistant Director Riyad Hossain said, “When the sea is rough due to low pressure, the Meghna River in Bhola becomes rough. This river has also been asked to show warning signal number 3. Due to this, launch and sea truck movement has been suspended on Dhaka-Monpura-Hatia, Bhola Char Fashion Betua-Dhaka, Bhola-Lakshmipur, Daulatkhan-Alexander, Hakimuddin-Alexander, Tajumuddin-Monpura waterways since Thursday afternoon. Launch movement will remain suspended until further instructions are given.”
It was found that around 74 char areas in 7 upazilas, including Rajapur, Velumia, Bheduria, and Kachia unions in Sadar upazila and outside the dam, Madanpur, Medua, and Bhabanipur in Daulatkhan upazila, Malangchara, Sonapur, and Kalatali in Manpura upazila in Tajumuddin upazila, have been flooded by high tide. Around 3 lakh people are living in these areas.
Localities are being flooded by high tide water. With the tide, there is a lot of water. Today, Friday, in Kalatali Union of Monpura Upazila of BholaPhoto: Collected
Md. Fazlul Haque, a development worker for a private organization, said that Kalatali, a remote union in Monpura upazila, has been completely submerged. Due to the effect of low pressure in the sea, waist-high water has risen in Kalatali Monir Bazar. They stood up to offer Friday prayers, at which time the height of the tide increased. After the prayers, they saw that their shoes were being washed away by the tide. Government and private offices, courts, and shops here have all been submerged. As Kalatali was flooded by the tide at a height of 6 feet above the normal tide, all the rice fields, seedbeds, ponds, and ponds here have been submerged.Read more
Nasir Sikder and Jahangir Chowkidar of Madanpur Union in Daulatkhan Upazila said that the height of the tide has increased for three to four days. However, gusty winds have increased since Friday morning. The tide water has caused waterlogging in roads and farms. Aman seedbeds, vegetable fields and paddy fields are being flooded. People are unable to leave their homes.
Ruhul Amin Miji, a farmer from Rajapur in Sadar Upazila, said that hundreds of acres of crop fields, houses, ponds, and beels outside the flood control dam that runs through Rajapur have been submerged in the tidal water. People are unable to leave their homes. They are unable to take their cows, goats, and chickens out of their homes. They are unable to cut grass because the fields are submerged. The mud roads in the union are collapsing in the tidal water.
According to the Bhola Department of Agricultural Extension’s Khamarbari source, 1,350 hectares of the 5,605 hectares of Aman seedbeds were flooded due to continuous rains in early July. 15,000 hectares of the 60,150 hectares of Aush fields were flooded and 530 hectares of the 3,280 hectares of vegetable fields were flooded. These crop fields are not drying up and are being flooded again by high tide water.
Md. Khairul Islam Mallick, Deputy Director of the Bhola Department of Agricultural Extension, said, “If the water rises and falls again, there will be no damage to the seedbed. However, there is a risk of damage if the vegetable fields are submerged or flooded.”
Source: Prothom Alo
