Flood worsens in Jamalpur

The overall flood situation worsened in Jamalpur, as heavy showers on hilly terrain, upstream of Bangladesh, led the Jamuna to swell once again from Sunday.

Currently 1,000,000 people remain marooned in seven upazilas of the district. Food and drinking water shortages continue to be a problem for locals amid the one month and six day long flood.

The five main rivers and their estuaries continued to flow above the danger line until Sunday afternoon and market places, cattle grazing fields, and houses have remained inundated.

The flood-affected people continued to remain unemployed. Their domestic animals became leaner, and they were unable to operate their shops, and the farmed fishes were also washed away.

On Sunday, although Jamuna has been swelling, the water level of the Brahmaputra showed a declining trend.

Md Abu Sayeed, executive engineer of Jamalpur Water Development Board (WDB) said Jamuna had been flowing 56cm above the danger mark at Bahadurabad ghat point, while the Brahmaputra had been flowing 41cm below the danger mark until 5pm on Sunday.  

Hilly terrain, upstream of Bangladesh, may face another heavy shower due to which the flood situation may worsen further in the district, engineer Abu added.

The district's relief and rehabilitation officer Nayeb Ali said Tk8 lakh in cash, 200 tons of rice, and 4,000 packets of dry food were newly allocated for the flood affected people. Since the beginning of the flood a total of 1284 tons of rice, Tk3,450,000 in cash, and 11,000 packets of dry food were distributed among the victims.