A large portion of Lakshmipur district has been left without electricity due to damaged power lines caused by inclement weather.
As a result, around 400,000 customers across five upazilas, including Raipur, are facing prolonged power outages.
In addition to residential areas, essential services and businesses have been impacted. Operations at Asia’s largest fish breeding and training centre, hospitals, the Brihottor Noakhali Bengal Shoe Factory, and Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) have come to a standstill.
Since late Friday night, most parts of the district, including Raipur, have been cut off from the power grid.
While some areas experienced brief periods of power during the day, many have remained without electricity throughout the night, causing significant distress among residents.
The lack of power has also affected mobile phone networks, leaving people unable to charge their devices or access mobile data.
Households are also facing shortages of water and food, and refrigerated items like fish and meat are spoiling.
Mohammad Asaduzzaman Khan, general manager of Lakshmipur Palli Bidyut Samity, said on Sunday morning that out of their 550,000 customers, 400,000 are still without electricity.
He explained that the heavy rains caused damage to power lines across five upazilas, with trees falling on the lines and poles collapsing due to flooding.
"Repair work is being delayed due to the continuous rain. If the weather improves, we hope to restore power soon," he added.
The Palli Bidyut Samity supplies electricity to five upazilas in the district. Over 120,000 households connected to their grid remain in darkness.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), which supplies power to municipal areas, managed to restore electricity to some parts of the district by Saturday afternoon and evening.
Taslima Khanam, a resident of Kanchanpur in Raipur municipality and a customer of Palli Bidyut Samity, expressed her frustration: “We have been without electricity for two days. Food is spoiling in the fridge, and there is no adequate water. We can’t even charge our phones, and the mobile network is down.”
Similarly, Salim, Jasim, and Bahar Uddin, residents of a BPDB-supplied municipal area, said that the electricity went out on Friday night. Although it came back briefly, there has been no power since Saturday morning.
Parikshit Roy, deputy assistant engineer of Bangladesh Power Development Board in Lakshmipur, said: "There was a fault in the 33,000KV lines coming from the Ramganj and Begumganj grids. Power is now being supplied from the Ramganj grid, but faults remain in the lines from the Begumganj grid. We started restoring power around 3pm on Saturday, and have been gradually bringing the feeders back online. However, some lines were torn by falling tree branches, and transformer fuses have blown. Our workers are repairing them despite the rain, and we hope to restore power to the entire area soon."