People suffer as rain reigns everywhere Lightning kills 8, several ferry, launch services suspended

Thursday morning’s downpour caused terrible jams on the capital’s streets.The gridlock virtually brought the traffic to a standstill on most of the streets.Digging roads and streets by utilities across the capital made movement difficult for commuters.School and office goers and other commuters were late in reaching their destinations.Many students appearing in ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels examinations could not reach exam centres on time.But the residents found a great relief from the sweltering heat that made life miserable for weeks.Residents had to wad through inundated roads, streets and lanes.
Windy and inclement weather forced suspension of ferry and launch service between the capital and 41 outlying destinations.The waterway connectivity with Narayanganj and Barisal remained suspended for several hours, said Bangladesh Inland Water and Transport Authority after the Met office issued the cautionary signal 2.
The Met Office predicted that the rains might continue for two or three days more to usher in Ashar.Lightning strikes and landslides killed at least eight people and left 13 other injured across the country.The traffic remained stuck for hours on most of the capital’s streets.

The traffic gridlock became acute at Gulshan, Baridhara, Rampura and Badda as the police blocked several streets for the inauguration of Police Plaza Concord Bhaban at Gulshan-1 by the prime minister at midday.Many school and office goers preferred reaching their destinations on foot as motor rides took longer .‘Coming from Mirpur, we just left the bus as it stopped at Bijoy Sarani for 40 minutes and walked to reach our offices at Karwan Bazaar,’ said several office goers.‘It took me over two hours to reach Motijheel from Basabo by auto-rickshaw as it remained in gridlock on Khilgaon flyover,’ said company executive Rinky Roy.Port authorities were advised to hoist cautionary signal-2 at all ports, said BIWTA joint director for marine safety Zainal Abedin.
He said on ferries larger than 65 feet were allowed to voyage from 11 AM.In Barisal, small and mid-size launches and other means of water transport were stopped, our local correspondent reports.
Weatherman Hafizur Rahman said 64 millimetre of rainfall, recorded in the capital Thursday, was the highest for recent times.
Our Chittagong correspondent reported that heavy rainfall caused water-logging in most parts of the port city bringing civic life to a halt.

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