The water level of the Padma River touched 18.66 metre mark, flowing 16 centimetres above danger level in Rajshahi Thursday.
The Rajshahi office of the Water Development Board (WDB) said the water level of the river was still rising and may continue for a couple of more days.
Sahabuddin, superintendent engineer of Rajshahi WDB, said embankment protection and monitoring activities had been going on round the clock for a few days due to the threatening rise in the water level.
Rising water flooded all the shoals on the river giving rise to an acute crisis of dumping sand, used for protecting the embankment from riverbank erosion, Shahabuddin said.
The authorities, therefore, were having to bring the required from faraway places.
Meanwhile, the low-lying areas of the Rajshahi City and the surrounding upazilas have been flooded by the rising water. Areas including Zia Nagar, Talaimari, Sree Rampur and Panchabati have already been inundated. The city protection embankment along the river has been put under severe threat.
People living at the low-lying areas of Alupatty, Pacnhabati, Panchani Math, Zia Nagar and Sreerampur have abandoned their houses and taken shelter on the embankments or on the high grounds.
They said neither the government nor any non-government organisation has come forward in helping them with relief materials.
Elsewhere, several hundred villages of Godagari, Bahga and Charghat upazilas have gone under floodwater. The residents of these villages have also taken shelter on raised grounds or the embankment with their belongings and cattle heads.
Expressing deep concerns, local lawmaker Fazley Hossain Badsha assured of all kinds of assistance from his side to help the flood affected people.
Former Rajshahi mayors Mijanur Rahman Minu and AHM Khairuzzaman Liton have also expressed concerns at the deteriorating flood situation and called upon the government, the NGOs
