C T Online Desk: Flood-hit people in the country’s Sylhet region feared the disaster to prolong as major rivers continued to swell on Thursday due to incessant rain, leaving many houses and roads submerged afresh.
The official death toll from floods from May 17 to June 30, mainly in the country’s north and north-eastern regions, increased to 92 from 88 on the day, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.
Among the four latest deaths, two died in Sherpur and one each in Sunamganj and Habiganj, the DHGS data showed.
Suleman Ali of Baliaghat village at Tahirpur upazila in Sunamganj told New Age that he had somehow installed a tent with several polythene sheets on his home as the recent flood washed away his house.
But the tent was also damaged by floodwater on Wednesday, leaving seven members of his family under an open sky.
‘I’m not financially capable to reconstruct my house. If the government allocates sufficient grant for the purpose only then I can rebuild it,’ Suleman said, adding that he was seeing only dark thinking about the future of his family.
Poultry farm owner Rastum Ali of Doalia at Doarabazar upazila in Sunamganj said that the floodwater again inundated his home, including the poultry shed, merely a day after he completed repairing the structures.
‘I will not have any financial strength left to stand around if the structures are damaged further,’ he said.
Saifur Rahman Sazu, resident of Orphanage School Road at Bagbari in Sylhet city, said that he had to stay 11 days in a hotel while his wife and daughter were in his relative’s house as their house went under waist-deep water within hours after the devastating flood hit the city on June 15.
‘I made my house inhabitable after cleaning it through relentless effort over the past two days. But, I’m very frustrated now as I’m going again to reach my wife and daughter to my relative’s home as my house has been under knee-deep water since last night,’ Sazu said.
Syed Mamun Ahmed of Kuchai area in the city informed New Age that he, along with 16 members of their joint family, remained marooned for more than two weeks in their house as all spaces, including its entrance and courtyard, around the home remained under waist-deep water.
‘The recent deluge forced almost all 170 families of our area to go through the same suffering as the floodwater remained almost steady while it took an upward turn since Wednesday,’ Mamun said.
Water Development Board sources said that 196mm of rainfall was recorded in Sunamganj while 85mm and 60mm rain at Kanaighat and Shewla respectively in Sylhet in 24 hours.
The Surma was flowing 83cm above the danger mark at Chhatak in Sunamganj and 77cm above at Kanaighat in Sylhet on Thursday while the Kushiyara was flowing 96cm above the danger level at Amalshid point at Beanibazar upazila and 42cm above at Shewla at Jakiganj upazila in Sylhet, the WDB said.
WDB Sunamganj executive engineer Zahirul Islam said that low-lying areas of almost all of the upazilas, including Tahirpur, Doarabazar and Chhatak, went again under flood water in the past 24-hour ending on Thursday morning.
‘The damaged roads, homesteads, and educational institutions of the low-lying areas were inundated once again,’ he added.
According to the Sylhet district administration, the ongoing flood marooned more than three million people in the district.
As per the available statistics, at least 4,84,383 families were affected by losing their properties including houses, livestock, food grains, poultries, fisheries and crops in the ongoing flood while more than 40,091 houses, excluding those of the city corporation area, were damaged partially or completely in the district.
The district administration assistant commissioner Ahsanul Alam told New Age that a list of the affected families was sent to the relief and rehabilitation ministry requesting sufficient funds to rehabilitate the flood victims.
He said that 2,52,784 people were taken to shelters at 614 centres opened in different parts of the city and 13 upazilas in the district till Wednesday.
Sylhet City Corporation chief executive officer Bidhayak Roy Chowdhury told New Age that some 1,000 houses were damaged in the city in the devastating flood.
‘The work on preparing a list of affected families is underway. It would be sent to the ministry concerned for rehabilitation of the flood victims,’ he added.
Alongside damaging about 50,000 houses partially or completely in Sunamganj, the flood affected more than four lakh people, who lost their belongings including fisheries, poultry farms and storage full of boro rice in Sunamganj, the district relief and rehabilitation office said.
Sylhet divisional administration’s assistant commissioner Rahat Al Kutub said that among the flood victims, 87,884 people were staying at nearly 1,000 flood shelters in four districts, including Habiganj and Moulvibazar till Thursday.
A total of 4,574 tonnes of rice, 82,918 packets of dry food, 29,64,500 water purification tablets and Tk 5,73,75,500 in cash help have been distributed among the flood-affected families in the division so far, he said.
