by Naim-Ul-Karim
DHAKA, Jun 19 (NNN-XINHUA) – Almost half of Bangladesh remained in the grip of devastating floods yesterday, as millions of people were marooned or left homeless, in low-lying north-eastern parts of the country.
Md Kamrul Hasan, secretary of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, told Xinhua yesterday that, tens of thousands of policemen, Bangladesh Army and emergency service staff members, have been deployed in parts of the country to assist search and rescue efforts.
“Bangladesh soldiers have already been deployed as floods devastated the north-eastern districts of Sunamganj and Sylhet,” he said, adding, there are no known injuries nor deaths to have occurred in the country, so far, as a result of the ongoing floods.
Officials said thousands of homes in Sylhet and Sunamganj have been inundated and electricity has been cut-off.
The key Surma river, running through Sylhet and Sunamganj districts, burst its banks, flowing at a record rate of over 100 cubic metres a second, yesterday.
“The ongoing floods have been reported in 28 (out of 64) districts in Bangladesh, since last week,” Dalil Uddin, a spokesperson for the country’s National Disaster Response Coordination Centre (NDRCC), under the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, told Xinhua.
Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan, head of the state-run Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre, said that, many major Bangladeshi rivers have risen to dangerous levels.
He said, the overall trend continues to indicate deterioration in the flooding situation in the coming days, particularly alarming for the areas around the Brahmaputra and Ganges basins.
Floods reportedly caused widespread damage to habitation, crops, roads and highways across vast swathes of the country.
Officials said, the onrush of water from hills across the Indian borders has virtually worsened the situation in the north-eastern Sylhet region.
At least four million people are marooned and 300,000 are reportedly facing electricity outages, in the districts of Sunamganj and Sylhet, Bangladesh national news agency, BSS, reported.
There is also the risk of mud and rock slides as the flood waters run off. Also, the rain yesterday swept the capital, Dhaka, forcing millions of city residents to stay indoors most of the day.
Due to incessant rainfall and flowing hill water, at least seven northern Bangladeshi districts have been inundated during the last two to three days.
Bangladeshi State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief, Md Enamur Rahman, told journalists that, both the government and private agencies are working together in the Sylhet region, which is facing its worst floods in 122 years.
He said, they rushed teams of army, navy, coast guard and disaster response forces, to carry out rescue, distribute relief materials and supervise centres, where the flood-affected families have taken shelter.– NNN-XINHUA
