Flood situation in the north likely to improve by Tuesday

The monsoon floodwater that has left thousands marooned in northern Bangladesh is likely to recede in the next two days as the Assam State of India in the upstream did not see any rainfall in the past two days.

 The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) in a bulletin has also said that water level in the upper side of the Brahmaputra River is gradually going down and in the lower side the water level will remain steady in the next 24 hours.

 “Our predictions are based on the rainfall in the upstream. This flood was the result of heavy rainfall in the upstream over last week. As there was no rain there in the last couple days, the flood situation will improve in downstream, Bangladesh, very soon,” said FFWC Executive Engineer Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan.

 Currently, several districts in the country’s northern region, including Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Jamalpur, are experiencing heavy flooding.

 Thousands of people have been left marooned across these districts and road communications snapped.

 The June to August period is monsoon season in South Asia. During this period, heavy to very heavy rainfall is the normal trend across the whole catchment of rivers, specifically the Ganges-Brahmaputra and Meghna river basin, from their origins in northern India to Bangladesh, where they empty into the Bay of Bengal.

 Because of that, water level at 51 out of 94 river monitoring stations are currently rising, falling at 42 stations and steady at one station.

 At the moment, water is flowing above the danger level at seven points of the rivers Jamuna, Surma, Kushiyara, Old Surma and Someshwari, located in the north and north-eastern zones in Bangladesh.

 Of them, water in Jamuna at Kazipur is flowing 27cm above the danger mark; 11cm in Surma at Kanaighat and 29cm at Sunamganj; 4cm in Kushiyara at Sherpur-Sylhet; 36cm in Old Sumra at Derai; and 7cm in Someswari at Kalmakanda.

 Erosion in Madaripur

 Meanwhile, onslaught of erosion by the Padma at Char Janajat in Madaripur’s Shibchar upazila has begun after water level in the river rose following heavy rains.

Char Janajat Ilias Ahmed Chowdhury High School being taken down and moved to another location away from Padma River in the face of erosion on July 8, 2018 | Dhaka Tribune

Locals fear that they will face massive loss yet again as it seems the river will devour more homes, roads, bazars and educational institutions very soon.

 Char Janajat Ilias Ahmed Chowdhury High School was seen being demolished on Sunday and will be moved to another location away from the river.

 The spot where the school is currently situated will go underwater within a day or two, said the school’s Headmaster Md Sultan Mahmud. “The water is now eating away the riverbank less than 100 yards from the school.”

 This high school is the last educational institution in the area as riverbank erosion devoured the rest in the past few years.

 At the same time, the ferocious river also devoured arable land, houses, hundreds of trees and a vast track of farmland, turning many people homeless.

 Shibchar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Imran Ahmed said the local administration would provide aid to the affected during the monsoon.