Flash flood turns them pauper
“The flood had turned me a street beggar overnight,” said Iliasuddin, 64, as he was sitting on a piece of wood on the embankment of the Teesta river at Dakkhin Kharibari village of Dimla upazila under the district.
He took shelter with family in a makeshift polythene tent there, as the overflowing Teesta following an embankment collapse washed away their homestead including all household belongings, 70 maunds of stored paddy and cattle early Sunday.
Like him, 500 families of the village have taken shelter on the embankment empty-handed as 5-6 feet high water is still flowing in their house yards.
“On Saturday night, it was raining from the evening and all of my family members went to sleep after taking dinner,” Iliasuddin said as this correspondent met him on Wednesday.
“At about 2:30am, I heard a loudspeaker announcement from our mosque, asking villagers to go to safer places as the flood protection embankment around our locality collapsed due to strong upsurge of water from the Teesta river,” he recalled the horrific scene.
Sitting beside him, his wife Monowara Begum, 55, said, “After hearing the announcement, I at once took two of my grandchildren in my arms and ran to a safer place as roaring water of the Teesta was approaching towards our house at great speed.”
“Within minutes, a 6-7 feet high tide with circular current struck our brick built house sweeping it away with all belongings,” she said in tearful eyes.
Standing in a line, Iliasuddin's family got a bowl of khichuri on Wednesday noon as Dimla upazila administration made the arrangement.
“Now I am thinking what my two grandchildren will eat at night,” he said with a tone of frustration.
“We are suffering from want of food and pure drinking water. It is embarrassing that we have to respond to the call of nature on the embankment's slope,” said victim Shamsher Ali.
Many others including Azizul, Ziarul, Jahangir, Hazra Bewa, Zaheda, Nurunnahar echoed the same.
The flood victims have urged quick repair of the flood protection embankment around their villages so that they can return home.
One km portion of three-km-long flood protection embankment and about 2000 hectares of Aman fields in the area have been damaged, said Rabiul Islam, chairman of Tepa Kharibari Union Parishad.
District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Md Aktaruzzaman said 160 tonnes of rice and Tk 7 lakh have been allocated for the flood victims to ease their sufferings.
Dimla Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Rezaul Karim said, “We've requested the Water Development Board authorities to start repairing the flood protection embankment very shortly.”
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