Low-lying areas of Chittagong city were submerged again following continuous moderate to heavy rain since Sunday night, causing severe hardship for residents, including commuters and students.
The Chittagong Patenga Meteorological Office recorded 109mm of rainfall from morning until noon on Monday.
The downpour inundated roads and alleys in several parts of the city, with water entering ground-floor homes and business establishments.
In some areas, water rose to knee or waist level, disrupting traffic and making it difficult for people to reach their workplaces and educational institutions.
The situation was created less than a month after similar waterlogging affected the city, raising fresh questions about the effectiveness of ongoing projects aimed at addressing Chittagong’s long-standing drainage problems.
Rain that began around 10pm on Sunday caused waterlogging in Chawkbazar, Bakalia, Katalganj, Panchlaish, Agrabad commercial area, South Halishahar, Pathantuli and Kapasgola, among other low-lying areas.
During a visit to Chawkbazar and Katalganj on Monday morning, waist-deep water was seen covering the roads.
Pedestrians were forced to wade through the dirty water while vehicular movement was severely disrupted.
A similar situation prevailed in Muhuripara in Agrabad where waist-deep water entered the ground floors of residential buildings. With vehicles unable to move through the inundated roads, residents had to walk through the water.
Waterlogging disrupted traffic on several city roads from the morning.
Many people were seen walking to their destinations amid the rain after failing to find public transport or rickshaws.
Where rickshaws were available, passengers said some drivers were demanding several times the usual fares.
Touhidul Salam, an employee in the Agrabad commercial area, said many roads there become waterlogged even after light rain.
“But the situation has become much worse this time because of the continuous rain since Sunday night,” he said, adding that many people had to walk to their offices as vehicles were unavailable and some rickshaw pullers were demanding up to three times the usual fare.
Water accumulated in front of and around several schools, causing difficulties for students and their guardians.
Many students could not attend classes because of transport problems and waterlogged roads while classes were suspended or cancelled at some places.
Ismail Mia, an official at the Patenga Meteorological Office, said the rain was caused by a low-pressure area over the sea and the active monsoon.“Rain may continue for the next two to three days,” he said.
According to official sources, four projects costing around Tk 14,500 crore are being implemented by the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA), Chittagong City Corporation and the Bangladesh Water Development Board to address the city’s waterlogging problem.
The projects are reportedly nearing completion.
However, the recurrence of knee- to waist-deep water in several areas after heavy rain has raised questions among city residents about the effectiveness of the initiatives.
Residents questioned why roads and homes in the same areas continue to go under water despite the spending of a huge amount of money and implementation of multiple projects to resolve the problem.
They said authorities should focus not only on implementing large projects but also on removing obstacles to drainage, improving the capacity of canals and drains, and ensuring regular maintenance.
Otherwise, they said, doubts will remain over how much benefit city residents will actually receive from the costly waterlogging mitigation projects.
