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Flash flood wreaks havoc

Helicopters were used to airlift people on Wednesday as authorities rushed troops to help worst-hit people in the devastating flash floods raging through nine districts in eastern, southeastern and northeastern Bangladesh.

Triggered by days of extremely heavy rains, particularly in the upstream Indian state of Tripura, the flash flooding impacts were compounded, particularly for Cumilla, by India reportedly releasing water from the Dumboor hydroelectric project in the Gumati River basin.

The affected areas themselves too witnessed very heavy to extremely heavy  rains over the last week. Dubbed the worst in living memory by authorities and locals, the flash flood left  several hundred villages submerged, leaving millions stranded in their homes as rivers surged by up to three metres in the 24 hours ending on Wednesday morning.

Gushing water overtopped flood protection embankments, washed away parts of the embankments and many roads, cutting off many upazilas from road communication with their district headquarters. The flood water swept away hundreds of fish and poultry farms, submerged thousands of hectares of agricultural land, and inundated parts of Dhaka-Chattogram highway.

Scores of flood shelters were opened in educational institutions and other government offices in the flood affected areas. In some areas authorities discontinued emergency health services because of water severely inundating health facilities.

‘We are facing an unprecedented crisis. We were caught completely off guard,’ Dewan Mahbubur Rahman, deputy commissioner, Noakhali, told New Age, estimating that 90 per cent of the district was inundated by the flash flood.

About 20 lakh people have been affected, the deputy commissioner said, adding that the flash flood damaged standing crops in the entire district and destroyed fish farms in hundreds.

The rescue and relief operation faced an unprecedented hurdle as most of the local public representatives remaining on the run since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5.  

The extent of the power with which the flash flood struck is understood by the record water levels reached by the Muhuri, Juri and Khowai rivers. The rivers never in history did rise so high.

The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said that the Khowai River in Habiganj broke its all-time water level record by rising up to 10.95 metres at 9:00am on Wednesday with its swelling continued. The previous record of its water level was 10.93 metres that rose on June 20, 2017.

‘The rivers might continue swelling for another day,’ said Sarder Udoy Raihan, executive engineer of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.

Udoy said that the Muhuri River reached its all-time high water level at Belonia in India.

On Wednesday, according to India’s Central Water Commission, the Juri River flowed at 20.45 metres at Silchar, breaking its previous historic water level record of 20.43metres in 1984.

The situation turned so acute in some places that rescuers could not reach people stranded on their rooftop amid continued heavy to very heavy rains in Feni.

‘Rescuers are struggling to evacuate people to the nearest safe place,’ said Sultana Nasrin, Feni district relief and rehabilitation officer.

She said that the army, navy, coast guard and fire service officials rescued nearly 3,000 people between Tuesday night and Wednesday noon using helicopters, speed boats and boats in Feni’s Parshuram and Phulgazi upazilas where 95 per cent villages went under water.

New Age correspondent in Feni reported that 200 villages were flooded leaving two lakh people stranded in three upazilas of the district.

Floodwater rose up to 12 feet at places in the district, submerging higher grounds such as roads under four feet water at points, leaving Fulgazi and Parshuram upazilas inaccessible by road. Floodwater gushed in through 27 points where the flood protection embankment protecting the district breached.

‘This is the worst flood in my memory,’ said Shahidulla Chowdhury, a resident of Bandua village of Anandapur in Phulgazi.

The government offices engaged in rescue operations in these districts lacked vessels, officials admitted, prompting many volunteers to arrange rowboats to engage in risky individual rescues.

‘Over a hundred volunteers risked their lives in taking people to safety over the last two days,’ said Mahbuba Tabassum, a volunteer in Feni.

The flood forecast centre reported that at 9:00am on Wednesday the Kusiyara, Manu, Dhalai, Khowai, Muhuri, Feni and Halda flowed above their danger marks at nine points in Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Sunamganj, Feni and Chattogram.

The Khowai River swelled by 315cm in the last 24 hours, the FFWC morning bulletin said. The river was flowing 197cm above its danger mark at Ballah in Habiganj in the morning.

New Age correspondent in Moulvibazar reported that 25 villages in the Kamalganj upazila lay inundated by the flash flood with most of the roads in the areas remaining submerged.

The upazila agriculture officer Jayant Kumar Roy said that flood water submerged about 1,000 hectares of aman and aush paddy fields.

The local office of the Water Development Board said that the Dhalai was flowing above its danger marks in four places.

New Age correspondent in Cumilla reported that panicked people were seen rushing out of their homes as the Gomati rapidly swelled on Wednesday with the army patrolling flood protection embankment along the river.

Authorities threw sand bags into the river to protect the embankment from eroding and initiated an evacuation process for the people trapped in water at Gomati Char in Adarsh Sadar Upazila.

The rapid rise in the Gumati is attributed on reported release of water from the Dumboor hydroelectric dam in India. Bangladesh’s Water Development Board neither confirmed nor rejected the report. An Agartala-based online media, Borok Times, reported that India released water from the dam, first time since 1993, following extreme rains in Tripura.

The dam is located in the Gumati basin, 120km from Agartala.

The India Meteorological Department reported that Tripura witnessed 523 per cent excess rain on Wednesday, followed by 446 per cent excessive rainfall in Meghalaya, 239 per cent excessive rain in Mizoram, and 113 per cent excess rainfall in Manipur.

In the 24 hours until 6:00pm on Wednesday, the Indian meteorology office said that Bangladesh’s highest rainfall of 312mm was recorded in Feni and expected the wet spell to continue through August 25 with heavy to very heavy rainfall through Friday. The low pressure that triggered the wet spell weakened on Wednesday, it said.

New Age correspondent in Brahmanbaria reported the inundation of 30 villages in Akhaura, leaving over 500 families marooned. At least one bridge was washed away by floodwater in the district and all activities at the land port were suspended.

A 25-year-old pregnant woman, Suborna Akter, drowned in Birchandrapur.

The disaster management and relief ministry in a press release said that 1,600 people took shelter in 78 flood shelters in the affected areas.

Source: New Age

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