C T Online Desk: Vast swaths of countryside in the north-eastern haor region continued to remain under water, leaving tens of thousands of people stuck at shelters or stranded at their submerged houses, as there are not enough channels for floodwaters to drain.
The six rivers that still flowed above their danger limits on Sunday, 11 days into the monsoon flooding, are in the haor region, including the Surma and the Kushiyara, the rivers that were first to swell beyond their danger marks as the flooding began on June 16.
The rivers receded maximum 10 cm a day over the past couple of days with the Kushiyara still flowing 169 cm above the danger limit at Amalshid in Sylhet.
The Surma flowed 75 cm above the danger limit at Kanaighat while the Kuhsiyara at Sheola was still swelled 60 cm beyond its danger limit.
‘This prolonged swelling is the result of backwater effect,’ Sharif Jamil, general secretary, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, told New Age.
The Surma and the Kushiyara are the two most important rivers of the north-east. They are two branches of the River Barak that originates in India and bifurcates when enters Bangladesh through Sylhet.
The rivers merge down stream before falling into the Meghna, which also merges with the Padma and the Jamuna.
The Meghna has been choked at Bhairab Bazar by the construction of three bridges, creating the backwater effect, said Sharif Jamil.
On June 21, Khalequzzaman, who teaches geology at Lock Haven University, USA, warned at an online press conference that floodwaters in the haor region would take at least a week to recede even if there was no further onrush of water from the upstream because of the bottleneck at Bhairab Bazar.
The maximum water discharge recorded at Bhairab Bazar between 2009 and 2016 was 10,000 cumec, Khaleq said, presenting a graphical description of how infrastructures affected haors.
The impact of this bottleneck is directly felt even in Sylhet city, where at least four wards are still under water. Besides, eight out of the 13 upazilas in Sylhet are still inundated.
The flood situation is particularly bad in Moulvibazar and Habiganj districts where over 50,000 people are still staying at 465 flood shelters. Over six lakh people have been affected by the flooding in the districts.
Seven of the nine upazilas in Habiganj have been without electricty since June 21 while 45 of the 67 unions in Moulvibazar are flood-affected.
The overflowing Surma and Kushiyara are pumping massive volumes of water into the haors of Habiganj and Moulvibazar, leading to the inundation of scores of villages.
‘Floodwater has remained almost static since June 18,’ Mir Nahid Ahsan, deputy commissioner, Moulvibazar said.
Vast areas of Sunamganj, Netrakona and Brahmanbaria are still reeling from the flood.
Major rivers in all the seven districts constituting the haor region are overflowing.
Over 2.6 lakh people were staying at more than 1,500 flood shelters in Sylhet division until Saturday. The number of sheltered people was not updated on Sunday.
The flood death toll, meanwhile, climbed to 84 on Sunday. The deaths occurred between May 17 and June 25, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.
A vast majority of the flood-affected people, even in cities and towns of the affected districts and their upazilas, are drinking floodwater as drinking water sources are lying still submerged or polluted by the flood.
Government health officials are worried about a potential outbreak of waterborne diseases at flood shelters, where men, women, children and livestock were crammed, often without access to safe food, drinking water and sanitation.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said that major rivers were receding, with forecasts of the upstream staying largely dry through Monday except the Teesta basin.
The Teesta is likely to swell again, the flood warning centre warned, following heavy rain in Sikkim in India.
The flood situation in Sylhet, Sunamganj, Netrakona, Kishoreganj, and Brahmanbaria may improve, the centre said.
Of the 109 rivers monitored for their water levels across the country, 91 receded on Sunday, according to the centre.
The India Meteorological Department reported 83 per cent above-normal rainfall in Nagaland, followed by Manipur with 65 per cent in the 24-hour period until 8:30am on Sunday.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department predicted widespread rain in the northern and north-eastern regions through today.
News agency UNB reported that the flood situation improved in Kurigram but people continued to suffer from starvation and flood losses.
Low-lying areas in other districts such as Sirajganj, Bogura and Tangail remained submerged in floodwater.
