Flooding in Bangladesh’s Sylhet left 25 dead, thousands displaced and affected

HnExpress Mayank Chakravarty, Web Desk News : Floods are a regular menace to millions of people in low-lying Bangladesh, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency, ferocity and unpredictability. Out of four districts in Sylhet division – 89 percent area of Sunamganj, 72 percent of Sylhet, 70 percent of Habiganj, and 50 percent of Moulvi bazar was submerged.

Bangladesh’s Sylhet region chief government administrator said “the situation is bad”. Flooding forced Bangladesh’s 3rd largest international airport In Sylhet to shut down. Monsoon storms in Bangladesh have killed at least 25 people and unleashed devastating floods that left more than four million others stranded, officials said Saturday. Relentless downpours over the past week have inundated vast stretches of the country’s northeast with troops deployed to evacuate households cut off from neighbouring communities.

The local administration is conducting rescue operations with the help of army and local council representatives to save all stranded people in the remote flooded areas. As days pass, the cry for rescue and relief is intensifying in the flood- affected areas. Many parts remain unreachable due to the high tide of floodwater and the shortages of vessels.

According to the Power Development Board in Sylhet divisional office, at least 1.8 lakh consumers are without electricity in different upazilas of Sylhet and Sunamganj, including Sadar upazila of Sylhet, South Surma and Chhatak upazilas of Sunamganj, and Sylhet metropolis and its surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, at least 82,000 customers in some upazilas, including the flood- ravaged Gowainghat and Companiganj in Sylhet under Palli Bidyut Samity,

are without electricity. Residents in almost all upazilas in Sunamganj under Palli Bidyut Samity are without electricity, according to the Palli Bidyut Samity office. Md Arafat-al-Majid Bhuiyan, sub-divisional engineer of Power Development Board in Sylhet told The Daily Star that the power supply in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts has been severely affected by the floods. Large areas of the two districts are now without electricity.

He also said the rest of the areas of the district, including Sylhet city, may be cut off from electricity connection any time as the water at Kumargaon power plant, on the outskirts of Sylhet city, is increasing. Sunamganj town is among the worst hit as almost all areas in the town have been flooded along with low-lying areas of Chhatak, Sunamganj Sadar,

Dowarabazar, Bishwambarpur and Tahirpur upazilas. Sylhet district’s Gowainghat, Kanaighat, Companiganj, Jaintapur, and Sylhet Sadar upazilas are the most affected along with parts of Sylhet city that lies beside the Surma river.