High monsoonal behaviour in the north and north-eastern regions and the Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya over the last two days have led to worsening of flood in Bangladesh.
According to the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB)’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC), heavy rainfall across the region has inundated vast areas in Bangladesh’s north and north-east, damaging plantations of major cereal Aman paddy and seasonal vegetables.
The rivers in and around Dhaka will also continue to rise over the next couple of days, but there is no warnings for any alarming inundation of the capital city.
In the next 48 hours, flood situation in the northern, north-eastern and central districts is highly likely to deteriorate due to the heavy rainfall that started Sunday night, said Md Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan, duty officer at the forecasting centre.
In the latest bulletin released 6pm yesterday, FFWC said that water level in Brahmaputra River is rising and that of Jamuna is steady, but both rivers may swell in the next 72 hours.
However, for the time being, water level in Padma, the other major river system in Bangladesh, is declining and this is likely to continue over the next two days, the bulletin said.
Yesterday, the met office in India also issued heavy rainfall warning for the next two days for regions across West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam and Meghalaya.
Most of the major rivers in Bangladesh have their origins in the Himalayas in India’s far north. Therefore, any excess or unusual rainfall in the states, mentioned in the Indian forecast, pushes up the water levels in the Bangladeshi rivers.
Even when there is usual rainfall here, the rivers in Bangladesh swell to a flood-like situation if these Indian states see heavy downpour. Major Bangladeshi rivers Brahmaputra, Teesta, Meghna, Padma and their tributaries carry down the water from the heavy rainfall in the upstream Indian regions.
Our local correspondents report that vast areas of agricultural land in the northern districts of Gaibandha, Kurigram, Sherpur, Jamalapur and Noagaon have been inundated and crop plantations damaged.
In addition, hundreds of educational institutions are being shutdown across the region because of rising flood water. People living on the banks of the rivers are the worst sufferers as flood-triggered riverbank erosion has been taking toll on their crops, land and houses, local reports said.
After keeping around 200,000 hectares of Aman plantation submerged for weeks, flood waters had receded from around 70% of the areas until Sunday. But the recent spate of heavy rain has sent floodwater back to these croplands, said Chaitanya Kumar Das, deputy director of Department of Agriculture Extension.
“If the situation worsens further, it will not be possible for us to recover from the damages by September 15, which is the seasonal threshold for sowing Aman,” Chaitanya said.
In the last 24 hours, Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded nearly 1,000 millimeters of rainfall in the six measuring stations in the Aman-growing districts. The station in Lorergarh measured 275mm, Sunmagnj 190mm, Dinajpur 178mm, Jamalpur 116mm, and Chapai Nawabganj and Ramgarh measured 103mm rainfall.
Each of the remaining 21 stations has also recorded more than 50mm rainfall on an average during the same period.
Yesterday, the water development board identified 20 points in Teesta, Karotoa, Jamuna, Gur, Atrai, Dhaleswari, Lakhya, Padma, Kobadak, Surma, Kuhiyara, Oldsurma, Jadukata, Kansha and Titas river where water was flowing above danger level.
When asked about the fresh spell of flood, FFWC forecasting officer Arifuzzaman said: “This is happening because of heavy rainfall at the last stage of the monsoon season in the region, which happens sometimes.”
Usually, the monsoon season spans the period from June 1 to September 15 in Bangladesh.
