Shib River levee breaches, inundates 220 hectares
Nearly 220 hectares of croplands were flooded in Mohonpur upazila after a large section of the Shib river embankment was washed away Sunday afternoon in Ghasigram area.
The affected villages -- around Beel Kumari and a number of other small water bodies in the upazila -- include Bhimnagar, Melandi, Belna, Ghasigram, Baje Deopur, Deopur, Mohiskundi, Dangapara, Palsha, Goalpara, Amrail and Shibpur.
A brick-built flood control gate, among 11 in total, that became weak over time without any repair work, finally gave in after overflowing waters from the Atrai river swelled up the Shib, complained locals.
The flooding has dealt a heavy blow to thousands of farmers who invested in paddy, betel leaf, jute and other crops as well as in fish farming.
More than a dozen villages still remain without power supply as the electric line was snapped when a portion of the levee was washed away.
In the meantime, the situation has worsened as the embankment has breached at another point in Manda upazila of Naogaon.
As a result, flood waters are now gushing into low-lying areas from two sides in Mohonpur and Tanore upazilas, said locals.
This correspondent during a visit to Mohonpur upazila yesterday came to learn that so far, after the breach developed in the embankment of the Shib, more than 13 villages have gone under water and the number keeps rising with every hour.
“The entire upazila is under the risk of getting flooded unless the water flow at the breach point is brought under control,” said Mohonpur Upazila Chairman Abdus Salam after visiting the affected areas.
Syamol Biswas of Bhimpur said his fish pond on three bighas of land got washed away and he anticipated incurring a loss of Tk 8 lakh.
Another farmer, Abdus Samad Mondol, said his paddy on 2 bighas of land has been washed away and his betel leaf orchard on 2.5 bighas of land at Amrail was under threat of flooding.
“I can get by after the loss of the paddy, but I won't be able to recover the loss of the betel leaves,” he said explaining that he invested several lakhs of taka in the betel leaf orchard.
Mohonpur Upazila Nirbahi Officer Shukla Sarker also confirmed that some 220 hectares of croplands have been flooded following the levee break. Human lives and homesteads are still safe, she said, adding that the local administration has requested the Water Development Board (WDB) to control the situation.
Mokhlesur Rahman, executive engineer of WDB, who was at the scene of the levee breach, said, they were trying to control the water flow by dumping sandbags and piling a bamboo fence at the damaged potion of the embankment and the water flow was slowing down.
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