Downpour continues

Incessant rain for more than an hour wreaked havoc on the city life yesterday.

The rain that began yesterday afternoon inundated many of the city streets, lanes and by-lanes in knee-deep water, exposing the poor drainage system in the capital.

The Met office recorded 16 millimetres (mm) of rainfall in Dhaka in one hour yesterday.

Roads and lanes in Rajabazar, Shahidbagh, Green Road, Testuri Bazar, Azimpur, and Mirpur areas went under ankle-deep to knee-deep water, causing immense sufferings to the dwellers.

"It was knee-deep water in front my house around 5:30pm. I crossed the waterlogged road by a rickshaw to buy medicines for my brother," said Jubayer Ahmed, a resident of Indira road in Farmgate.

Moreover, it takes the drainage system at least three to four hours to clear the water that submerged the road, he said.

The Met office said a total of 18 mm of rainfall was recorded in the city till 6:00pm yesterday, including 16 mm that descended in the afternoon. The highest rainfall was recorded 59 mm in Mymensingh yesterday.

Though it was autumn, the met office forecasted that the monsoon was fairly active over Bangladesh and that the rainfall might continue for the next one or two days.

In the regular weather bulletin, the met office said, light to moderate shower was likely at many places over Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet region and at some places of Dhaka, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Khulna divisions.

Meanwhile, heavy rainfall and floods in northern part of India has been causing fresh floods in some parts of the country.

The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) forecasted rise of water level in all major rivers in the next two days.

The water level of Gur, little Jamuna, Khowai, Someshwari, Kansha, Muhuri was flowing above the danger level yesterday, FFWC said.