Scores of villages in low lying areas in the northern and north-eastern districts were flooded on Saturday as onrush of water from upstream regions continued following extremely heavy rainfall over vast swathes in Bangladesh and its neighbouring India.
Weather forecasters warned that extremely heavy rainfall is likely to continue in Assam and Meghalaya through tomorrow and heavy to very heavy downpours all over north-eastern India may occur through the weekend.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre in an alert issued on Saturday afternoon warned that the Surma-Kushiyara, Sarigowain, Someswari, Jadukata and Jhalukhali rivers in the north-eastern region and the Teesta, Dharla and Dudhkumar in the north region might rapidly rise over the next 72 hours, crossing danger levels at places.
The low-lying areas of Sylhet, Sunamganj and Moulavibazar may experience short-term flood, the FFWC said.
The 抖阴精品 correspondent in Sylhet reported that floodwater freshly inundated areas in Balaganj,聽 Osmaninagar and Fenchuganj upazilas between Friday and Saturday.
鈥楾he rivers have been rising for three days,鈥� said Anar Miah, chairman, upazila parishad, Balaganj, Sylhet.
Parts of Sylhet also went under water on Saturday morning following 45 millimetres of rainfall in the three hours starting at 6:00am. The floodwater receded in the afternoon.
Reports also came about two dozen villages getting flooded in Sunamganj during the same time.
The FFWC in its weather bulletin said that Jaflong received 369mm of rainfall in the 24 hours until 9:00am on Saturday, followed by over 100mm rainfall recorded in at least half a dozen other places in Sylhet, Sunamganj and Kurigram.
Over 50mm rainfall was recorded in many places in Bangladesh鈥檚 north and north-east regions over the same period.
The Surma swelled by more than a metre over the reporting cycle, flowing 30cm above the danger level at Kanaighat, while the River Kushiyara flowed 55cm above the danger mark at Fenchuganj at 3:00pm.
The India Meteorological Department recorded 640mm rainfall in the East Khasi hills in upstream Meghalaya in the 24 hours until 8:30am on Saturday.
The IMD put Assam and Meghalaya on red alert through tomorrow for the likelihood of extremely heavy rain continuing there.
Over 500mm of rainfall was recorded in Cherrapunji in the 24 hours reporting cycle until Saturday morning, the IMD said.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Lalmonirhat reported low lying areas in 19 unions of five upazilas in Lalmonirhat district going under water in the Teesta basin.
The FFWC said that the Teesta was flowing just 18cm below the danger mark at Kaunia and 53cm below the danger mark at Dalia at 3:00pm on Saturday.
The people of northern and north-eastern Bangladesh live in floodplains of rivers fed by the Himalayas.
This is just the beginning of the monsoon when 80 per cent of annual rainfall occurs.
River encroachment, unplanned expansion of towns and cities, and infrastructure blocking the natural way of rivers only add to their woes.
The north-eastern region is particularly vulnerable to frequent flooding because of its geographical status鈥攁 land depression at the base of some of the world鈥檚 wettest places, including Cherrapunji in Meghalaya.
The Brahmaputra might swell over the week after June 17, the day of Eid-ul-Azha, and might briefly cross the danger mark at one or two places, the FFWC warned.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department predicted light to moderate rain accompanied by temporary gusty wind at many places over Rangpur, Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions, at a few places over Chattogram division and at one or two places over Rajshahi, Dhaka, Khulna and Barishal divisions until 6:00pm today.
Rainfall might increase over the next five days, the BMD said, also adding that a mild heatwave was sweeping through the entire Khulna division and the districts of Rajshahi and Pabna with chances to continue.
Bangladesh鈥檚 highest maximum temperature of 37.7C was recorded in Pabna on Saturday.
Despite heatwave confined to a limited area and intermittent rain lowering the temperature over vast regions, load shedding continued.
The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh recorded 254MW of load shedding at 3:00am on Saturday when the power demand reached 13,700MW.
