Time to rebuild

Laki village of Tawakkul union in Sylhet's Gowainghat upazila straddles a massive haor, silhouetting the emerald mountains of Cherrapunji.

This village was the first to be hit and face the full blow of the flood as its raging waves devoured homes.

Khanoma and her baby were sleeping inside her house when the waves struck – the force of which made it hard for her to open the door.

She stood on the bed, holding her baby above her head and screamed for help.

"My brother-in-law hacked open the thatched roof and pulled us out," she said. They made it just in the nick of time before the waves crushed her mud house.

She estimated that she will need around Tk 2-3 lakh to fix the house -- and a year to earn that money.

Currently, she is taking shelter in her neighbour's house, which is essentially just concrete frames and a few half-done walls. Calf-deep mud makes up the floor.

"It has been raining non-stop [until yesterday] and our bedding is drenched. It gets extremely cold at night when the winds blow," said Khanoma.

A short boat ride away lay the ruins of Fakhruddin's house.

"We had escaped to the madrasa when the flood waters came. When we came back and saw what happened to the house, my wife fell to the floor crying. Our home, our bed, everything was destroyed or washed away."

The fisherman estimated that it would take him at least a year to give his family even a little comfort.

Meanwhile, the ruins of Chandoin's house float above the floodwaters providing a strip of dry platform for the haor's ducks to roost on.

Far away from the haor, Daulatpur's low-lying Shattish village is dreadfully water-logged. With no way out, the flood waters have comfortably settled in, turning the whole village into a fetid swamp.

Battered by the floods, the tin walls of fisherman Monjur Ali's home now continues to rust in the stinking waters.

Ali, who catches small fishes from canals and streams, has a slim chance of being able to rebuild his home.

Visiting Sherpur area in Moulvibazar's Sadar upazila yesterday, a reporter of this newspaper saw 25 makeshift shelters made of plastic sheets line the side of the road in Hamorbuna village.

Each shelter is the size of a bathroom and houses up to two families. However, as it began raining in Sylhet a few days after the flood, they found little respite there as the shelters offer no protection from rain.

Khushban Begum's shelter was washed away and now the ruins stew in tepid water.

"Every time it rains, everything gets drenched. We can only save our heads," she said.

After the flash flood hit the Sylhet division on June 15, 4.04 lakh people took shelter at 1,474 shelter centres in four districts by June 21.

After the flood situation started improving, people started returning to their houses, only to find them lying in ruins.

According to Sylhet district administrations, 22,150 houses were destroyed in Sylhet district alone till Friday, while data from three other districts are still being collected.

Tahmilur Rahman, upazila nirbahi officer in Sylhet's Gowainghat, said, "Besides the government, people from all walks extended their support with food relief for the flood-affected people. But as the situation improves, these people now need assistance to rebuild their houses.

"We are collecting data on the damages so that the government as well as the non-government organisations can help those in need."

Md Mosharrof Hossain, divisional commissioner of Sylhet, said, "The government helps them [people whose houses are damaged] in two ways -- supporting with corrugated tin and cash for those whose houses are completely damaged, and cash for those whose houses are still standing but need repair.

"Once we have the list [of those who need help in rebuilding and repairing], being prepared by the local administration, we will be sending it to the ministry [of disaster management and relief]."

IMPROVING BUT SLOWLY

The flood situation in the division is stalled as all major rivers are still flowing above the danger level.

However, as rainfall started again in many areas of the division, many flood-affected people remain in fear.

According to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC), the water level of the Surma was still flowing 81cm above the danger level at the Kanaighat upazila point in Sylhet yesterday at 3:00pm, while the river is right at the danger level at the Sylhet city point.

The Kushiyara at the same time was flowing 177cm above the danger level at Amolshid point in Sylhet's Zakiganj upazila and 64m above at Sheola point in Beanibazar upazila.

The Puratan Surma was also flowing 36cm above the danger level in the district's Derai upazila.

However, the FFWC report, circulated by its Executive Engineer Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan, stated that the flood situation in the division will improve in the next 24 hours till this morning.

DEATH TOLL NOW 82

Floods claimed nine more lives in different parts of the country in the 24 hours till yesterday morning, raising the fatalities to 82, reports UNB.

Five of them died in Mymensingh division and four in Sylhet division, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.

Of them, seven died by drowning and one from a snake bite.

The number of deaths was recorded from May 17 to June 25.