The Meghna made a 25-foot breach in the Bhola town protection embankment in Nasir Majhi area Thursday and by yesterday evening widened it to 75 feet, local people and administration said.

Two out of 24 passengers of a trawler remained missing until yesterday evening after the boat capsized Thursday afternoon on its way to Dhal Char from Char Ashraf in Bhola. Local fishermen rescued the rest of the passengers.

As of yesterday evening, Gangakirti, Balaramasura and Kanainagar unions under Bhola Sadar upazila and the suburban unions of Dhania and Kachia were submerged under swirling floodwater, which was just 1.5 kilometre away from the town.

At least 10,000 families are marooned by flood in the unions, and many more are in panic of an imminent disaster. Crops of thousands of acres of land have been spoiled and fishes of around 300 ponds worth about Tk 50 lakh washed away in the affected areas, locals estimate.

Locals said, until yesterday evening, there was no visible countermeasure taken by the Water Development Board (WDB), responsible for the protection and maintenance of the embankment. It was the same place where the embankment was breached last year, displacing about 2,000 families and damaging crops on thousands of acres of land, they added.

After last year's flood, the locals reportedly urged the WDB to replace the broken stretch with a new embankment and build a ring-embankment in front of it. But the WDB kept its intervention limited to repairing the breach.

Villagers of the island district's affected areas took out several processions yesterday demonstrating against the WDB's lack of responsiveness.

Minister in-charge of Bhola Mosharraf Hossain Shahjahan yesterday said the government's efforts to protect the island and the town from flooding failed time and again due to rampant corruption among the WDB officials and the poor standard of its works. He was speaking at the 10th anniversary celebration programme of a local daily as the chief guest.

In Patuakhali town, which has no flood protection system, a number of areas including Puran Bazar, Banik Patty, Chawk Bazar, Nawab Para, Centrepara, Shimul Bagh and Adalatpara were flooded during Thursday's stormy hours. The water is expected to occupy the areas for the next two to three months. Sources said, a few thousands of people, marooned by flood there, were hard put to maintain daily life.

Storms on Wednesday and Thursday also caused heavy damage to houses, crops and animals and disrupted electric and telecommunications networks in different areas of the southern districts of Khulna, Bagerhat, Barisal, Bhola, Barguna, Patuakhali, Jessore and Jhalakati.

In Bhola, the areas most hurt by Thursday's storms include Dhal Char, Char Kukri Mukri, Char Nizam, Manpura, Majher Char and Char Newton.

In Barguna, power and telecommunications networks were disrupted in many areas for long hours after the storm hit Wednesday and Thursday. Suki Begum, 26, of Kalatala under Sadar upazila of the district was injured when her house collapsed on her.