“The embankment is collapsing!”
Hearing such cries, a few people came out of the surrounding areas. Within minutes, a long stretch of Koyra's Harinkhola embankment disappeared into the Kopotakkho River.
Anarul Islam, the owner of a fish enclosure in Harinkhola, was the first person to see the embankment break on Monday.
The people of Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat coasts often have to face such situations, as over 240km of the 2,000km embankment is risky, according to the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB).
There is 1,910km of embankments in Khulna, Bagerhat, and Satkhira districts. Originally, these embankments were 14 feet high and 14 feet wide when they were built in the sixties.
The height and width of this 240km embankment are now less than half of what they once were.
Koyra Union Parishad member Abul Kalam Sheikh said the local mosque announced when the embankment was breaking.
“The villagers joined hands to repair the dam when they heard the news. They were trying their best to raise the embankment until the tide became stronger in the afternoon,” he added.
He also said: “With the voluntary efforts of the common people, we were able to stop the salt water of the tidal basin. However, unless urgent action is taken by the authorities, the embankment will break at any moment and flood the entire area.”
Sixty-six-year-old Abdul Hakeem Sheikh, from Shonapara area, said: “I am in extreme fear. If a cyclone hits, the entire area will be flooded with salt water. The cropland will sink, and the fish enclosure will be damaged.”
He added that many people who lost their houses and belongings during cyclone Aila are still looking for a permanent homes.
“Many had chosen the edge of the embankment to stay, and their condition is now fragile,” he noted.
Meanwhile, residents of Ghatakhali area of Koyra said that the embankment, which is currently protecting the people of the area from tidal water is the fifth one, as the previous four have collapsed already.
Half a million people of the neighboring two unions including Koyra Sadar will be in danger if this embankment breaks, they told this correspondent.
Koyra Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Roknuzzaman said local volunteers and villagers are trying to repair the embankment. However, the tidal surge of the Kopotakkho and Shakbaria rivers is increasing over time.
Meanwhile, Koyra Upazila Parishad Chairman SM Shafiqul Islam said people are more worried about the embankment collapse than the cyclone itself.
“If the river water increase, the embankment will surely break in many places. Even though the government allocated funds to build a strong and sustainable embankment here, the work is yet to start,” he added.
Cyclonic Sitrang crossed the Barishal-Chittagong coast near Bhola around midnight on Monday but weakened rapidly into a depression by giving precipitation, the weather department said in its latest bulletin on Tuesday.
Sitrang moved north-northeastwards very fast and crossed the Barishal-Chittagongcoast, and now lies over Dhaka-Comilla-Brahmanbaria and adjoining areas as a land depression, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).
The maritime ports of Mongla, Payra, and Chattogram have been advised to lower danger signal number 7 and hoist local cautionary signal number 3 instead.
The front part of the cyclone started lashing Bangladesh on Monday evening, while its centre made its landfall in the early hours of Tuesday.
The maximum sustained wind speed within 54km of the cyclone's centre at that point was about 62km per hour rising to 88km per hour in gusts or squalls.
As Sitrang started lashing the country's coastal areas, nearly all of Bangladesh suffered under inclement weather with uprooted trees or falling branches killing people and disconnecting power transmission lines, and incessant rainfall causing waterlogging in urban areas.
