The number of people in flood shelters exceeded five lakh on Tuesday as flood spread further inland, temporarily displacing 40,000 more people in the country鈥檚 eastern and south-eastern region.
The death toll also increased to 27 as dead bodies were washed ashore with floodwater continuing to recede amidst the ongoing wet spell growing weaker.
Of the deaths, Cumilla recorded 10 deaths while Chattogram and Noakhali recorded five deaths each, followed by Cox鈥檚 Bazar recording three deaths, and Feni, Khagrachhari, Brahmanbaria and Lakshmipur one death each.
鈥楶eople in my area need urgent help,鈥� said Mohammad Salauddin, acting chairman of Fatehabad Union Parishad in Debidwar upazila.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Cumilla reported that 18 new villages were submerged in Debidwar, leaving 40,000 people stranded.
The newly affected people needed urgent help with rescue and relief for their village was submerged in neck-deep water which was still rising.
The Gumti continued to wreak havoc in Cumilla with the river鈥檚 situation being compounded after India reportedly released water from its Dumboor hydroelectric project in Tripura.
About 300 families, taking shelter on the flood protection embankment in Burichang upazila, were living in humanitarian condition in absence of adequate food and water and forced to go in the open for toilet purposes.
鈥楾he flooding in Cumilla is set to waterlog the district in absence sufficient drainage capacity,鈥� said Ohiduzzaman, district executive engineer for the Bangladesh Water Development Board.
The disaster management and relief ministry data showed that the overall number of flood-affected people slightly dropped to 56 lakh as flood retreated from some areas, including Feni and Chattogram.
The flood that started on August 19 hit 11 districts at its peak and is now in a steady condition in Cumilla and Noakhali.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Chattogram reported that train schedule could not be fully maintained because one of the two rail tracks, damaged by the flood, was yet to be repaired.
The road communication between Dhaka and Chattogram, on the other hand, was disrupted by the bad road condition, increasing the travel time. A portion of the highway in between Feni and Cumilla鈥攆rom Lalpool to Chouddagram鈥攚hich used to take half an hour in normal condition now cost four to five hours of travel time.聽聽聽聽
Some rivers in south and south-eastern regions might rise over the next 24 hours due to heavy rain in the upstream.聽
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said that floodwater in eastern, south-eastern and north-eastern Bangladesh continued to decrease. The flood-affected areas might witness less rain over the next 48 hours, the forecasting centre said in a bulletin issued on Tuesday afternoon.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department forecast issued at 6:00pm on Tuesday said that rain was likely to decrease over the next 48 hours.
In the 24 hours until 6:00pm, the department said, Bangladesh鈥檚 highest rainfall of 61mm was recorded in Maizdi court.
