Flood: Brahmaputra swelling, Teesta receding

With waters of Teesta receding, the gush from Brahmaputra continues to swell further, according to the latest update on the flood situation of Bangladesh.

Rail communications with the north remains in jeopardy as most of the broken down lines could not be restored until this morning, our correspondents report.

The rail routes are: Parbatipur-Dinajpur-Panchagarh, Lalmonirhat-Burimari and Teesta junction in Lalmonirhat to Ramna Bazar in Kurigram's Chilmari.

The latest flood situation from districts is as follows:

Gaibandha: Four upazilas—Sadar, Fulchari, Sundarganj, Shaghata—have been hit hard by the flood and the town protection embankment on Ghagat river gave away last night, according to WDB.

Around 2 lakh people have been marooned following the river, according to the district administration.

The Brahmaputra was flowing 100cm over the danger mark at Balashi point which was a sharp increase of 25cm recorded yesterday. The Ghagat river was flowing 82cm above the danger mark.

District administration has started relief allocation among the victims. The administration has 500 metric tonnes of rice and Tk 5 lakh in stock for carrying out the aid operation.

Army has been deployed in Shingria area of Fulchari upazila which is a vulnerable point and the embankment might collapse in any moment.

Kurigram: The water levels of Dharla and Teesta rivers have receded but those at Dudh Kumar and Brahmaputra are swelling up, Water Development Board says.

According to 3:30Pm reading, the Dharla was flowing 89cm above the danger mark at Dharla bridge point which was flowing 108cm over the danger mark two days earlier.

The Teesta was flowing 95cm below the danger mark while the Brahmaputra the Dudh Kumar and were flowing 86cm, 14cm  above the danger mark respectively, our Kurigram correspondent reports.

Lalmonirhat: flood situation has slightly improved in the district with water receding from major roads, our local correspondent reports.

Flood affected people are still staying at flood shelters and no more deaths were reported in the district.

Rajshahi: Flood situation in Rajshahi had worsened with some 50 more villages freshly affected with the onrush of flood water, our staff correspondent reports visiting the spots.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) distributing packaged food among flood affected people in Dinajpur. Photo collected from Facebook

A vast area has been inundated in the region as flood-protection embankments were breached in Saidpur of Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Dinajpur, Kurigram, Rajshahi and Badarganj of Rangpur. 

Sunamganj: Some 500 households in Sunamganj haor area were freshly inundated due to the onrush of water of Surma, claimed Bajlul Majid Chowdhury, convener of ‘Save Haor, Save Sunamganj’ movement.

The Surma was flowing 69cm above the danger mark this morning, our Moulvibazar correspondent reports quoting Abu Bakkar Siddique Bhuiyan, executive engineer of Sunamganj Water Development board.

A vast area has been inundated in the region as flood-protection embankments were breached in Saidpur of Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Dinajpur, Kurigram, Rajshahi and Badarganj of Rangpur. 

Read More: Flood hits 20 districts

Around 1,000 educational institutions in Lalmonirhat, Panchagarh, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Bogra, Jamalpur, Tangail, Sunamganj and Sylhet have been closed as those have been either flooded or flood-hit people have taken shelter there.

At least five people, including two children, have died and another has gone missing in flood-related incidents in Dinajpur, raising the death toll to 20 in the last three days across the country.