Flood situation: Worse likely yet to come

The flood situation in the northern region and low-lying parts of Dhaka division is likely to worsen in the coming days, officials and experts said yesterday.

There is a chance of medium to heavy rains in northern and northeastern parts of the country, along with Indian states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal, in the next 48 hours, the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) said in a report at 6:00pm.

"… Water levels of the Brahmaputra-Jamuna, the Ganges-Padma, the Dharla, the Dudhkumar and all other major rivers may continue to rise in the next 48 hours. Meghalaya state [of India] is unlikely to see heavy rains. Flood situation in Sylhet, Sunamganj and Netrakona may remain unchanged during the period," it mentioned.

The report warned that the southeastern part of the country may experience very heavy rains in the next 24 hours.

"Water levels of all major rivers in Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Rangamati and Bandarban may rise rapidly during the period," the report said.

The port city and several districts of Chattogram Division witnessed heavy rains yesterday.

Officials and experts said there is a strong probability that the country's central region may see flooding after floodwater from the northern region starts gushing down through the Jamuna.

Talking to The Daily Star, Mostofa Kamal, a researcher at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, said the flood situation in Sunamganj improved slightly in the last 24 hours but remained almost unchanged in Sylhet because of heavy rains in the hilly area close to the popular tourist spot Jaflong.

On Sunday night, Habiganj and Moulvibazar saw heavy downpours, he mentioned.

"The flood situation along the banks of the Teesta remains at a warning level. However, flood situation in the areas along the Jamuna river worsened significantly, and now, almost all monitoring stations show water levels at the danger mark or one metre above it," he said.

Mostofa said Sherpur, Mymensingh, Rajbari, Madaripur, Shariatpur and Manikganj are likely to hit by floods in the coming days.