Fifteen more deaths were confirmed on Tuesday due to inclement weather unleashed by the cyclonic storm Remal, which continues to give heavy wind and rain in parts of Bangladesh despite weakening to a low.
The overall death toll from the cyclone that made landfall as a severe storm on Sunday afternoon between the Bangladesh and West Bengal coasts rose to 31, with the disaster hitting almost everyone in Bangladesh, except for those living in the northern region.
Agence France-Presse reported that Remal killed at least 21 people in India.
Thousands of people remained stranded in their coastal villages, flooded with saline water gushing through breached embankments, despite trying hard to hold back the ocean by mending the embankments with whatever they had, using bamboo and sacks.
Thousands live under the open skies in coastal and central Bangladesh, barely fed, trying to rebuild their completely damaged houses or put partially damaged houses back in shape while clearing massive debris made of uprooted trees, toppled electric poles, blown-away metals, and other things.
In the hilly south-eastern region, 11 landslides hit Bandarban and Rangamati on Tuesday following overnight pouring, disrupting road communications amid forecasts of the south-eastern rivers potentially causing sudden floods after some of them swelled by over 5 metres between Monday and Tuesday.
The north-eastern region is at flash flood risk, as well as the low pressure that lay over Sylhet and its adjacent areas on Tuesday, dumping huge amounts of rain, and sinking villages, towns, and parts of Sylhet city.
Over 1.71 crore villagers remained without electricity, some of them since听 Saturday, even after authorities restored power connections for over 1.31 crore people in areas where weather conditions improved.
鈥楾he storm brought so much water along with it that people are busy escaping it and not being able to even cook meals,鈥� said Sohrab Sardar, a resident of Pangasia, a village by the river Payra.
Sohrab is living on a raised platform in his house, flooded by water from the river overflowing its banks. The river started receding, but slowly.
The condition of people living in remote areas such as Char Montaz, Char Anda, and Char Chalita Buniya in Patuakhali remained unknown since they remained out of mobile network coverage.
The chars are completely flooded after their coastal protection embankment gave in.
A water crisis hit parts of Patuakhali town after 19 out of 200 tube wells became flooded. The city, which was completely under water, saw its higher ground emerge on Tuesday.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre warned on Tuesday afternoon that six districts鈥擲ylhet, Sunamganj, Moulvibazar, Feni, Bandarban, and Chattogram鈥攊n north-eastern and south-eastern Bangladesh are at risk of a flash flood in 24 hours.
The FFWC data revealed that rivers such as Muhuri and Sangu swelled up by over 5 metres in the 24 hours until 9:00am on Tuesday.
In 24 hours, some areas recorded half or even more of the amount of rainfall expected over the whole month. In the 75 stations recording rainfall, the FFWC said, 36 stations recorded between 100 and nearly 300mm of rainfall.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department, however, recorded the country鈥檚 highest amount of rainfall of 303mm in the 24 hours until 6:00pm in Sylhet.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Sylhet reported that the city was partly swamped following heavy rainfall.
About 4 lakh people out of the total 7.5 lakh electricity consumers remain without electricity.
Baghaichari upazila nirbahi officer Shirin Akhter said that heavy rains triggered flooding in Sajek鈥檚 Machalong and Baghaihat areas.
She also confirmed landslides in at least 10 places in areas under her jurisdiction, leading to a disruption in road communication on the Sajek-Dighinala road by up to eight hours.听
Ruma and Thanchi were partially cut off following a landslide in Bandarban. Authorities said that a bailey bridge could only be used for light travel.
The repair of the bridge might take at least six days.
A press release issued by the Power Development Board said that the Rural Electrification Board suffered losses worth Tk 103 crore after Remal left 3.33 crore of its consumers out of electricity supply.
The PDB hopes to restore power to 80 per cent of people by today, but the remaining 20 per cent of consumers might have to wait a while to get their power connection back.
Over 1.44 lakh consumers of West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited were still without power, according to the PDB press release.
The new deaths were reported in Pirojpur, Barguna, Dhaka, Narshingdi, Khagrachari, Kushtia, Noakhali, and Chattogram.
Dhaka recorded the highest number of four deaths 鈥� all from electrocution, between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
The Department of Forest confirmed the deaths of 29 deer in the cyclone. Losses from the cyclone would have been even greater had it first not hit the natural mangrove barrier.
The BMD predicted rain accompanied by temporary gusty wind at a few places over the Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions in the 24 hours ending at 6:00pm today and at one or two places over the Rangpur, Dhaka, and Chattogram divisions.
The weather may remain mainly dry with a temporary partly cloudy sky elsewhere over the country, the BMD said, predicting a rise in temperature.
Movements on river routes resumed on Tuesday, almost three days after their closure on Saturday afternoon. Airports also returned to normal operation.
鈥楾he remnants of the storm Remal passed over to Assam at 6:00pm on Tuesday,鈥� said meteorologist Omar Faruque.
The news, however, is not a source of relief for the amount of rain it will dump in the hilly neighbouring Indian states, which will be drained through Bangladesh, potentially leading to flash floods.
听
- Death toll climbs to 31
- 29 deer found dead
- Landslides hit hilly region
- 1.71 crore still without power
- Flash flood alarm sounded