Embankments were damaged at six places at the river banks of Barisal as the cyclonic storm Sitrang lashed coastal districts early Tuesday
Rakib Hossain, executive engineer of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) Barisal office, said a total of 1,600-metre long embankments were damaged due to high tide and heavy rain.
Among the damaged points, three are in Shaistabad union of Barisal sadar upazila, one in Nalua at Bakerganj upazila and two in Guthia under Wazirpur upazila.
The executive engineer said initiatives have been taken to repair these dams.
Meanwhile, water research department of WDB engineer Muhammad Masum said that the waters of all the rivers in the division are still flowing over the danger level. It may take another two-three days for the water to recede.
He said that the water of Meghna and Surma rivers were flowing above 1.37 metres at 2pm in Tajumuddin upazila of Bhola.
At the same time in Daulatkhan Upazila, the water of these two rivers is flowing over 1.19 meters above the flood level.
At 4pm in Bhola Kheyaghat area, Tetulia river water was flowing over 70cm. At 4 pm the water of Kirtankhola River flowed 35cm above the danger level.
In Mirzaganj upazila of Patuakhali, Burishwar and Payra rivers were flowing 76cm above the danger limit.
At Barguna Point of Bishkhali River, water is flowing 55cm above the danger line. At Patharghata point, the water of the same river flows 87cm above the boundary line.
The waters of Burishwar and Payra rivers also flow over danger point at Amtali of Barguna district.
The water of Baleshwar River flows 17cm above the danger level at Pirojpur point.
At Umedpur Point of Kachcha River, water flows over 17cm at noon.
Mahfuzur Rahman, senior observer of Barisal Meteorological Department, said that Barisal witnessed the highest 324 millimetres (mm) rain in the 24 hours till 6am on Tuesday.
Earlier, the highest 258 mm rainfall in one day was recorded on November 10, 1967.
Thousands of people in 30 low-lying wards of Barisal city have been marooned for the last three days as Cyclone Sitrang-induced heavy rains inundated the areas, reports UNB.
The situation has become so dire that the district administration and the Barisal City Corporation had to provide cooked food to the affected people.
Although water has receded from the roads, most of the residential areas went under ankle to knee-deep water, which has exacerbated the suffering of the city dwellers as furniture and electronic products are getting damaged.
Md Yasin, a resident of the city's Sree Nath Chatterjee Lane, said that people in the area were suffering a lot as due to waterlogging.
“There is no place to cook food in our house as water is everywhere. We're surviving on food bought from outside. This can't go on,” said Abdur Rahman Mia, a resident of the city's Bottola area.
Jashim Uddin Hayder, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Barisal, said that the district administration is providing all kinds of assistance to the marooned people including the supply of cooked food.
