Upstream rivers continue to swell: Dhaka region braces for serious floods

The country is bracing for possible major flooding in the next two days with heavy rain forecast for neighbouring India set to swell its rivers to dangerous levels.

Director of Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) Saiful Hossain yesterday said downpours expected in north-eastern India likely to cause problems for parts of Bangladesh.

Floods displaced thousands of families yesterday as rescuers braced for another day of heavy rains, our correspondents and agencies reported.

The Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers breached their banks, inundating farmlands in the 16 stricken districts in the past two days.

Nearly 50,000 people were stranded on 'floating' villages in inundated central Faridpur district.

At least three children drowned in the district as they tried to cross a river on a raft. Local officials earlier said eight people died in the floods.

Nearly 20,000 people from the low-lying areas in Kurigram and Gaibandha districts were given shelter in schools and community centres. Another 100,000 people were waiting to be rescued, officials said.

In Bogra floodwaters washed away a portion of a dam, submerging at least 10 villages in the region.

Waters have receded since last weak and the country has escaped damage caused in north-eastern India, where millions have been affected by a river which burst flood defences and inundated large areas of Bihar state.

But, FFWC reports said, three major rivers - the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna - were all rising, particularly the Brahmaputra, the country's biggest.

"All three systems will rise which will affect the flooding situation, particularly in the southern central part of the country, as well as parts of the north," Head of FFWC Saiful Hossain said.

Inundating the north-western and north-eastern districts, that same water is now flowing south through the country's heartland - threatening to flood Dhaka, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Faridpur and Shariatpur districts in the south-central region.

Flood conditions in the northern region worsened with the Teesta and the Dharla rivers - two tributaries of the Brahmaputra - rising, said Mustafa Sarwar, deputy project director of FFWC.

At least 29 out of the country's 73 rivers monitored by the FFWC registered an increase in water levels over the previous 24 hours, with 23 now flowing above the danger level.

Flooding in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts will continue as the region (including Kachhar, Goalpara and Dhubri districts in the neighbouring Indian Assam Province) has been experiencing heavy rainfall for last few days.

Nearly 125,000 people in Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and Rangpur districts alone have been marooned, while two young girls drowned in flood waters in the Chalonbeel area in Tarash Sub-district earlier this week.

Hundreds of "chars" (river islands) have been submerged, trapping tens of thousands and prompting many people to shift to higher ground along flood embankments.

The marooned people are now suffering from an acute lack of drinking water and food, say relief workers, while livestock does not have enough fodder.

Road links between Faridpur and Char Vadrasan, Tepakhola and Goalunda, Faridpur and Sadarpur in the south-central region have been cut off. In Kurigram District relief office said more than 100,000 people on 276 chars did not leave their homes despite the floods.

According to a report by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), crops such as Aman (the mainstay of the country's rice production and a staple component of the population's diet), t-Aman (a locally developed hybrid paddy), Aush (a secondary rice crop whose volume is less than half of Aman), jute and vegetables on more than 100,000 hectares of land in the 15 flood-hit districts were submerged.

"Crops, especially t-Aman, will be damaged completely if the water does not recede within the next two to three days," DAE former director-general Ibrahim Khalil warned.

Mohsin Ali, deputy director of the DAE in Kurigram District, said that vegetables and crops, including Aman, on about 10,000 hectares of land have been washed away.

More than 20,000 hectares of Aman and Aus crops in Companiganj, Golapganj, Jaintapur, Kanaighat, Gowainghat, Fenchuganj and Beanibazar Sub-districts have been destroyed in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts, according to agriculture officials.

In the northern Rangpur District, the Aman crop has already been destroyed on several thousand hectares of land. In Lalmonirhat District, another 27,605 hectares has been destroyed.

Meanwhile, 92 medical teams have been dispatched to flood-affected areas to cope with potential disease outbreaks, said sources at the Director-General of Health Services office.

Flood situation Munshiganj district worsened yesterday as more areas are being submerged causing untold sufferings to the people.

Transport movement on Dhaka-Srinagar-Dohar route remained suspended as floodwater inundated Balasur area of Srinagar upazila.

According to the local administration, 1,097 families have become marooned only in Tongibari upazila due to flood.

District administration with the help of army distributed 10 kgs of rice to each of the affected families in Tongibari upazila on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Meteorology Office in Dhaka yesterday forecast light to moderate rain or thundershowers at many places over Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions and at a few places over Rajshahi, Dhaka and Khulna divisions today.

Moderately heavy rainfalls are also likely at places during the period, the met office said.

The government has allocated 1,893 mts of rice for the flood-affected people of the district.

Meanwhile, erosion by the river has taken a serious turn in last 24 hours in the Tongibari upazila rendering some 69 families homeless.