C T Online Desk: The flood situation worsened in the country’s northern region on Friday, with the water level in several rivers, including Teesta, Dharla, and Brahmaputra, going above danger level due to heavy rainfall and an onrush of water from upstream India.
With the authorities keeping 44 gates of the Teesta barrage open in the face of water pressure from upstream India, roads and houses in low-lying areas have been inundated.
At least 1.5 lakh people were marooned in 16 upazilas of five districts of Rangpur Division —Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Rangpur, Nilphamari, and Gaibandha — as trans-boundary rivers Teesta, Dharla, Dudkumar, and Brahmaputra flowed above the danger level.
Bangladesh Water Development Board Northern Zone additional chief engineer Md Mahbubar Rahman confirmed the development to New Age.
Teesta water was flowing 40cm above the danger level at Dalia point, Dharla was above 30cm, Brahmaputra was 20cm
above the danger mark at Chilmari point, and Dudkumar was 25cm above the danger mark at Kurigram point on Friday morning, he said.
The officials at the local BWDB office warned residents of low-lying areas in the district to remain alert about an aggravating flood situation.
Sabina Begum of Chilmari, one of the several flood-affected people approached, said that she did not get any assistance from the government or the union parishad chairman despite being stranded by flood water for two days.
Asgor Ali, chairman of Ramna union parishad in Kurigram’s Chilmari, said he did not get any relief materials from the government to distribute among the flood-affected people.
Ansar Ali, chairman of Balapara union parishad under Kaunia upazila in Rangpur, said that he also did not receive any relief materials to distribute.
Ansar said that he was preparing lists of affected people.
The onrush of waters caused concern as India had opened 54 gates of the Gajaldoba Barrage and issued an alert in the adjacent areas, according to BWDB officials.
An embankment developed a crack in Kurigram, submerging thousands of people in low-lying areas.
Many people in the five flood-affected districts struggled to save their cattle.
Abul Kashem, 50, a farmer in Char Boaribari area of Bhogdanga union under Kurigram Sadar, said he took shelter on highland with his family and cattle after his house was under water.
He said that he, along with his family and domestic cattle, took shelter in a highland.
Many croplands, including summer vegetable fields, have been marooned in the village, he added.
Bhogdanga union parishad chairman Saidur Rahman said that some 3,800 families in his union had been marooned, and six houses were washed away by flood water into the Dharla River.
The water levels in 67 of the monitored 109 rivers are now rising across the country, according to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre bulletin for the next 24 hours, commencing at 9:00am on Friday.
The FFWC bulletin said that the Brahmaputra-Jamuna and the Ganges-Padma rivers were in a rising trend, which might continue in the next 48 hours.
The flood situation in Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, and Kurigram districts may remain steady in the next 24 hours, the FFWC said.
‘The northern flood may remain stable in the next 24 hours. Teesta water may rise nearly 40cm above the danger level in 24 hours. The flood situation may improve in the Rangpur division by three days,’ FFWC executive engineer Sardar Uday Raihan told New Age.
He said that the situation would depend on rainfall and water from upstream India.
Light to moderate rain or thundershowers, accompanied by temporary gusty wind, are likely to occur at most places over Rangpur, Khulna, Barishal, and Chattogram divisions and at many places over Rajshahi, Dhaka, Mymensingh, and Sylhet divisions, with moderately heavy to heavy falls at places over the country, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department weather bulletin for the next 24 hours commencing at 6:00pm on Friday.
