The flood situation in Sunamganj and Habiganj has worsened as heavy rainfall and onrush of water from the upstream submerged new areas in the districts on Monday, reports UNB.
In Sunamganj, the Urar Bondho dam in Pagnar haor in Jamalganj and Dirai upazilas breached at various points in the early hours, damaging crops on some 9,000 hectares of land newly. The dam broke down around 5am due to the gushing water, said Jahedul Haque, deputy director at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in the district.
The water level in the hoar marked an unusual rise due to incessant rain for the last few days and water rolling down from the areas, he said. Boro crops on 9,000 hectares of land went under water afresh. With this, boro paddy on some 66,289 hectares of land was damaged in the district by the flashflood in the last 24 days.
In Habiganj, the flood situation in the district took a turn for the worse due to torrential rain and onrush of hilly water. The Khoai, Kushiara and Kalni rivers are flowing above their danger levels in the last 48 hours, inundating many croplands.
Boro crops on 50,000 hectares of land were damaged by the flood in the last few days. Meanwhile, around 500 houses were damaged as nor’westers lashed different villages in Sadar and Bahubal upazilas in the last one week. The local administration has provided 203 tonnes of rice, Tk 7.52 lakh in cash and construction materials worth Tk 3.54 lakh among the storm-affected people.
In Bhola, crops on 24,000 hectares of land were damaged due to the flood caused by torrential rain for the last several days. The local DAE feared that robi crops worth Tk 100 crore might be damaged by the sudden flood as 24,000 hectares of croplands were inundated by water.
This year, a total of 1.44 lakh hectares of land were brought under robi cultivation in seven upazilas of the district. Of them, 77,000 hectares were submerged by the flood water and 24,000 hectares were fully damaged. Pranshanto Kumar Saha, deputy director of Bhola DAE, said 381 mm rainfall was recorded in the district till Monday this year while it was 12 mm last year.
In Brahmanbaria, boro crops on 1,840 hectares of land were inundated by fresh flood caused by the heavy rains for the last five days.