Nearly three weeks into massive floods that caused at least 16 people to die and go missing in the district, parts of Chittagong city yet again went under knee- to waist-deep water on Sunday following incessant rainfalls since Saturday.
But this time around, the rains not only affected the affected commuters and claimed two lives through a landslide but also delayed the ongoing Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams by an hour at 29 centres of the city.
Shah Amanat International Airport sources said several flights could not land in the airport while some flights were delayed because of heavy downpours.
Meanwhile, the Chittagong University authorities suspended 24 examinations of 22 departments that were scheduled for Sunday. The shuttle train service between the city and the university was also halted.
A number of the 14 upazilas of the district including Satkania, Lohagara, Chandanaish, Banshkhali, Hathazari, Sitakunda and Mirsarai also saw water being stagnant on roads and low-lying areas for hours since late Saturday.
However, compared to the last spell of floods, the situation in the then worst-affected upazilas -- Satkania, Lohagara and Chandanaish -- was not that threatening as of last night.
The Met office recorded 224 mm of rainfall in Chittagong in the last 24 hours till 3pm Sunday.
The Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) and the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) often blame each other for the perennial waterlogging issue.
Father-daughter killed
Md Sohel, 35, and his seven-month daughter Bibi Jannat, residents of IW Colony inhabited by low-income families in Sholoshahar, died early Sunday.
Abdullah Harun Pasha, deputy assistant director of Chittagong Divisional Fire Service, said a heavy chunk of a 50-foot hill fell on Sohel's tin-roofed shanty when they were asleep, leaving four members of his family injured.
Locals and firefighters rescued them and took them to the Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) where doctors declared Sohel and his daughter, said Nur Alam Ashek, in-charge of the CMCH police outpost.
A number of people die in Chattogram due to landslides caused by random hill cutting, unauthorized human settlements and deforestation.
According to the Patenga Meteorological Office, 76.4mm of rainfall was recorded within an eight-hour span from 12pm on Saturday to 9am on Sunday.
Child goes missing
A one-and-a-half-year-old boy went missing after falling into a drain in the Agrabad area Sunday afternoon.
The victim is Yasin Arafat, son of Saddam Hussain of the area.
As of 10pm, there was no trace of the toddler.
As the child could not be traced after 4:30pm, relatives suspected he might have fallen into the drain, said a firefighter.
HSC exams delayed
Chittagong Secondary and Higher Education Board Controller Narayan Chandra Nath said as per the Education Ministry's instruction, the first day's exam was delayed by an hour as the examinees were facing trouble reaching at 29 centres due to water logging.
He said the exams started at 11am, instead of 10am, at 27 centres in the port city and two more centres at Hathazari Upazila.
But the exams of all centres of the madrasa and technical education boards started on time, at 10am.
The HSC and equivalent examinations under the board were postponed for 10 days to Sunday due to the inclement weather.
A total of 102,468 examinees under the board, 98,031 examinees under the Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board and 152,717 examinees under Technical Education Board are taking the exams.
Communication with Khagrachhari, Rangamati snapped
The road communication between Khagrachhari, Rangamati, and Chittagong was cut off as the Chittagong-Hathazari road was closed due to flooding.
Earlier in the day, vehicles departing from Chittagong city Khagrachhari, and Rangamati managed to reach some destinations, but several vehicles were reportedly stranded due to the rising water, leading to significant traffic congestion.
In response to this, the associations of vehicle owners have suspended bus operations until the water subsides to avert any potential mishaps.
Kamrul Azam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Raozan highway police station, said: "The highway in Nandirhat and Bara Dighi areas of Hathazari is inundated due to heavy rainfall, making it impossible for traffic to move."
After the previous spell of floods, some 50km of roads, 2.19km of drains and 2km of footpath across 41 wards of the CCC and crops on over 50,000 hectares of land in the district were badly damaged.
Deputy Commissioner Abul Bashar Mohammed Fakhruzzaman then said the extent of damage caused by the flood was estimated to be Tk135 crore.
The fisheries sector alone has incurred a staggering loss of Tk69.38 crore.
