Incessant rain causes immense suffering

Torrential rain flooded low lying areas in the port city causing immense suffering and hindering regular traffic flow yesterday.

Chawkbazar, Halishahar, CDA Residential area, Agrabad and Beparipara areas went under knee- to waist-deep water due to the downpour.

The incessant rain began on Monday evening.

Thirteen year old Mosharraf Hossain, from Comilla, was trapped in a manhole in Agrabad area and was rescued later, said Jashim Uddin, deputy assistant director (DAD) of Fire Service and Civil Defence department.

The officer said the boy fell into a manhole in the rain at 1:30pm in front of Lanka Bangla Finance Limited office at Agrabad. Being informed by the locals, fire-fighters rushed to the spot and rescued the boy at 2:30pm and took him to Chittagong Medical College Hospital, said Jashim, adding that Mosharraf is now undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Working people all over the city suffered the most as the roads were flooded and transport fare was higher than usual. School and college going students had to cut classes due to such unfavourable weather.

Jimmi Hasan, an employee at CEPZ, said the road connecting the port became a death trap. “The road is already in pretty bad state with numerous large potholes, and the rain concealed them,” he said.

He also complained about having to pay double the fare to CNG-run auto-rickshaws on his way to workplace.

About raising fare, Jahangir Alam, a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver, said they did not have any alternative.

“We cannot make trips to all places. Some areas are really badly flooded, and we cannot risk having our vehicles stall. We too have to feed our families,” he said.

CHITTAGONG-RANGAMATI ROAD CONNECTION INTERRUPTED

The downpour snapped the road communication between Chittagong and Rangamati districts, as the road at Raojan point was flooded, said Abdul Karim, officer-in-charge (OC) at Raojan Highway Police Station.

Pradip Kanti Roy, duty assistant officer at Meteorological Department in Chittagong, said the rainfall was recorded as 252 millimetre till 12:00pm in last 24 hours.

The officer also said that the department predicted moderate to heavy rainfall with thunder in the next few days.