The flood situation in most of the affected districts in the north has been improving but the country’s major rivers are still flowing above danger level.
In Natore, however, the water of Atrai River has started to recede since Tuesday night but the flood situation is yet to improve in the district.
The river was flowing 98 centimetres above the danger mark on Wednesday morning, said Executive Engineer Shudash Kumar Sarkar of Natore Water Development Board, reports UNB.
Meanwhile, as floodwater is receding in most of the affected areas, the government has further intensified relief activities in 10 districts of northern region to mitigate the flood-affected people’s sufferings.
Officials of district administration on Wednesday said the government has allocated 8,169 tons of rice, Tk2.73 crore and over 40,000 packets dry foods for flood victims of Rangpur region, reports BSS.
Fish farmers at stake
Fish producers and traders in the flood-affected northern districts have incurred a massive loss as fishes from most enclosures were swept away.
In Nilphamari alone, fishes of 2,230 hectares of pond disappeared in the recent spate of heavy shower coupled with flash flood, causing losses worth over Tk8 crore.
According to the district fisheries office, 18,107 fish farmers were directly and indirectly affected in the flood.
Hasan Ferdous, district fisheries officer, said the floodwaters washed away fishes from 24,970 ponds, leaving local farmers extremely troubled.
The district fisheries office says it would need 393.26 tons of fish fries worth Tk4.09 crore to help farmers recover the losses.
With 4,812 affected farmers, Domar upazila is topping the list of worst suffered fish producers while Sadar upazila is holding the second position (3,020 troubled fish farmers).
However, there is no initial reports of government assistance for the affected fish farmers and traders.
Natore district fisheries office said some 22,000 ponds had been engaged for fish farming. Fishes worth around Tk11 crore of at least 7,000 ponds under Singra Upazila were washed away.
Some 60 ponds in Naldanga upazila have been swept away due to the flood, causing farmers to suffer a loss of around Tk7 lakh. In Gurudaspur upazila, some 41 ponds and fishing farms have been flooded, leading to a Tk7 lakh loss, sources said.
Similar situation was reported in Sunamganj, where farmers reportedly suffered a Tk8.4 million loss.
Since August 11, at least 37 tons of fishes and nearly a million fish fries of 177 ponds and farms in 11 upazilas disappeared.
