Sunday's six-hour heavy downpour paralysed normal life as well the Eid shopping craze in Barisal city.
Barisal citizens endured torrential rainfall which started from about 8am and continued on till 2pm with no sign of yielding. The local met office recorded 129mm of rainfall.
The city’s skies will remain cloudy with medium to heavy rainfall and gusty winds of about 15-20km per hour for next one or two days, said sources from the local meteorological office.
Most people remained inside their houses as the roads and markets in low-lying areas went under water and transport became an issue.
Moreover, the few units of public transportation that were operating were charging extra fares from passengers, further discouraging people from venturing outside of their homes.
During a visit to various parts of the city this correspondent found that shops, houses on the roadside, rivers and canal banks in different parts were flooded with rain-water and tidal surge, causing distress within the people especially those who were out shopping for the holiday. Numerous makeshift shops and hawker markets remained close the entire day.
Citizens demanded the construction of a dam to protect the town, excavating canals and introducing sustainable scientific drainage and sewerage systems to eradicate the city’s water logging woes.
Water logging on city roads and in low-lying areas were caused due to filling and grabbing canals and the lack of a proper drainage and sewerage system. The absence of a town protection embankment is proving problematic to the people residing in the low lying areas, said Barisal City Corporation Mayor Ahsan Habib Kamal. He however assured citizens that the city corporation would soon take measures dealing with the water-logging crises.
Filling canals, constructing unplanned narrow drains without maintaining a standard scientific sewerage system and technology are also reasons behind the water logging problems of the city, said Dr Mizanur Rahman, member secretary of Barisal Nagorik Samaj.
The failure to construct a town protection embankment is causing the people living in the low-lying areas and river banks to suffer, said Enayet Hossain Chowdhury, a citizen’s rights activist.
Creating a depression on the bay is causing heavy downpours in the region, making river estuaries and the sea very rough with high waves and strong tides and gusty winds, said Prodip Kumar, officer of Kalapara weather radar station.