Heavy rain: Most low-lying areas in Ctg city go under water

Chattogram city dwellers today faced waterlogging in low-lying areas of the port city after spells of heavy downpours since last night.

The Chattogram Met Office recorded 125 mm of rain in 24 hours till 3:00pm today, said Suman Saha, met officer of the office.

"As the monsoon is active in this region, it may rain in the next 48 hours in Chattogram," said Suman.

Heavy showers may cause landslides in the next 48 hours, he said.

During a visit, our correspondent found that the torrential rainfall flooded most low-lying areas of the city, including Chawkbazar, Bahaddarhat, Muradpur, Sholashahar Gate No.2, Badurtola, Bakalia DC Road, KB Aman Ali Road, Agrabad, Halishahar, Chandgaon, Katalganj, Shulakbahar and Dewan Bazar.

Knee-to-waist deep water submerged the yards and ground floors of houses located in these areas, our correspondent said.

The house of the Chattogram City Corporation mayor at Bahaddarbari also went under knee-deep water. It was seen this morning that water submerged the yard and ground floor of the "Mayor Bhaban".

The road from Muradpur to Sholoshahar Gate No. 2, a busy street in the city, was flooded with knee-deep water. Several vehicles broke down in the water while pedestrians had to walk through the dirty water.

People in the affected areas blamed the concerned authorities for their suffering saying that the they "failed" to bring about any improvement in waterlogging issue for over a decade.

"Once again, after rainfall dirty water from the roadside drains entered into the house and reserve water tank," said Sheikh Mohammad Ledu, a resident of Uzir Ali Shah Bylane at Rahattarpool KB Aman Ali Road.

The heavy shower also caused a hill slide in Tiger Pass area, one of the busiest roads in the city, for which the vehicular movement was stopped for around three hours.

A chunk of earth from the adjacent hill fell on a microbus moving on the road around 7:30am, said Abdur Razzak, deputy assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence, Chattogram.

The vehicle was damaged partly due to the accident, but there was no casualty, he said.

On information, firefighters rushed to the spot and cleared the earth from the road after a three hours' frantic effort, he said.