The breach in the southern bank of Teesta that developed in Mornea area on July 11 has stretched up to about three kilimetres, he told this correspondent.

Breaches have also developed at many points of the embankment at Bijoy, Mohipur and Mohisasur villages.

WDB dumped sandbags to protect the dam.

Crores of taka were spent for maintaining the dam in the last several years but the repair works were not done properly, the WDB official said seeking anonymity.

A former Union Council member, Mofazzal Hossain, said about 1100 families have become homeless in Alalchar, Mohisasur, Almas Bazar, Uchhagram and Bagdohra villages in Gangachhara and Gajaghanta areas as their homesteads have been eroded by the river. About 3000 people are marooned in the areas, he said.

This correspondent saw at least 1000 families marooned in Kalagachhi, Islichar, Iswarkul, Joyramaja Mohipur and Laxmitari areas, with no supply of food and drinking water. Most of the tube wells there have go under water.

Many of them are on rooftops and boats.

"Flood water has washed away everything. We could not go to the bazaar on the southern bank of the river in last three days to purchase food", said Azizar Rahman from a rooftop at Islichar.

No official came to see their plight, he said.

When contacted, a relief official in the district said that 16 tonnes of rice and Tk 10,000 were distributed among the affected people in Gangachhara.

The local administration erected a flood shelter at a high land in Islichar and dug a ditch for drinking water.