Around 30pc of country to be flood affected
Around 30 percent of the country's area is set to be inundated as the water level of the Jamuna and Padma is forecast to continue rising over the next three days.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) said the overall flood situation will worsen in 11 districts -- Kurigram, Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Bogura, Tangail, Sirajganj, Pabna, Tangail, Manikganj, Faridpur and Shariatpur -- by today morning.
"The water level will increase for the next three days and by then around 30 percent of the country would be flooded," Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan, executive engineer of FFWC flood forecasting and warning centre, told The Daily Star.
Of 109 water measuring points in different rivers, water is flowing above the danger level at 16 points while water levels at another 50 points are increasing, the FFWC bulletin said.
Our correspondents from the flood affected districts reported that people of those districts have been forced to leave their homes due to their houses being flooded and a lack of food and drinking water. A few lakh people are enduring hardships in those districts, they said.
In Kurigram, around 50,000 flood victims on the banks of the Brahmaputra, Dharla and Dudhkumar rivers are facing crises of food and pure drinking water. Many of the flood victims have left their homes and taken shelter along with their furniture and livestock on government roads and WDB dykes.
Mahu Miah, 58, of Char Parbati in Jatrapur union on the bank of the Brahmaputra in Kurigram Sadar upazila, told The Daily Star that he had moved with his family to a government road as his house is inundated with flood water.
So far, no government assistance has been provided to them, he said.
Ayub Ali, chairman of Jatrapur union parishad, said the amount of relief materials he has received is low when compared to that which is required.
The District Relief and Rehabilitation Office (DRRO) has allocated 280 tonnes of rice and Tk 12 lakh for flood victims in nine upazilas of Kurigram.
However, due to the delay in preparing the list of flood-hit people, the government relief aid has not yet reached the victims, said Ayub Ali.
In Bogura, around 70,000 people of three upazilas are suffering from shortages of drinking water and dry foods.
Visiting the Shonpacha char under Bogura's Sariakandi upazila, our local correspondent found around 500-600 people (165 families) were affected by flood a month ago, but they were yet to receive any relief goods.
Asma Begum, 45, said, "Flood water entered our village around 15 days ago. We are suffering much because we have no work, no food. We are even collecting drinking water from 5km away by boats. People who do not have boats cannot go outside."
On the other hand, on August 29, around 200 houses in Noapara char under Bogura's Sariakandi upazila was devoured by the Jamuna due to erosion and flooding, said Shawkat Ali, chairman of Chaluabari union parishad.
Over one lakh people of 25 unions of five upazilas have been marooned, but a flood loss report has still not come to the district administration, said Md Abdur Rahim, district relief and rehabilitation officer.
In Tangail, over one lakh people of several hundred villages at Sadar, Kalihati, Bhuanpur, Gopalpur, Nagarpur, Basail, Delduar and Mirzapur upazilas along the Jamuna river were marooned, sources at Water Development Board (WDB) said.
In Manikganj, water of the Jamuna was flowing 17 centimetres above the danger mark at Aricha around 3:00pm yesterday, said Faruk Hossain, gauge reader of Manikganj WDB.
Several thousand people of Daulatpur, Shibalay, Harirampur and other upazilas have been stranded by floodwater.
Rakibul Islam, sub-divisional engineer at Munshiganj WDB, said more than 50 villages in three upazilas were at risk of erosion due to the rise in water levels of the Padma river for several weeks.
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