Heavy rains batter Chattogram, landslides feared

Heavy rains, which started to batter Chattogram and adjacent districts on Sunday, may trigger landslides in the areas, Bangladesh Meteorological Department said in a forecast on Monday.

Most of the low-lying areas of the port city of Chattogram were submerged by water on Monday due to the downpours, causing huge sufferings to the residents and commuters.

The weather office in its forecast warned of landslides in Chattogram division saying that heavy to extremely heavy rains would remain in parts of the division for two more days.

The Chattogram district administration on Monday started evacuating people from 17 hills, which were at risk of facing landslides, to avoid any untoward incident.

Additional deputy commissioner (revenue) SM Zakaria said that if the people did not leave their houses on the hills by Monday night, they would conduct drive for eviction.

He said that a total of 19 cyclone shelters were opened to accommodate the evacuated people.

In the city, Badurtola, Kapasgola, Oxygen, Hamzerbagh, Muradpur, Bohoddarhat, Shulakbahar, Katalganj, Nasirabad, Bayezid, Sholoshohor, Chawkbazar, Panchlaish, Chandgaon, Mohora, Bakalia, Chaktai, Dewanbazar, Saraipara, Halishahar, Agrabad and CDA Residential Area were badly affected by rains in the past two days.

Stagnant rain waters on different roads caused severe traffic congestions while commuters and office goers faced difficulties in finding transports on Monday morning.

Many of the city houses were also submerged by rain waters. In low-lying areas of Sholoshohor and Chadgaon, some people were seen using stoves for cooking on the beds as the rain waters entered their houses.

Patenga Meteorological Department, Chattogram recorded 33.6 millimetres of rains in 24 hours till Monday morning.

People expressed frustration over the repeated waterlogging during monsoon in the port city over the years despite repeated assurances of the authorities to solve the problem.

Pedestrians found it difficult to move through knee-deep water on different roads.

Sharmin Chowdhury, a resident of CDA Residential area, on Monday morning told New Age that she was waiting for an hour to find a rickshaw or a CNG-run three-wheeler to go to her office in the city’s Nasirabad area.

She said that they had been hoping that the city’s waterlogging problem would be solved soon, but they did not know when the problem would go away.

Meteorologist Sheikh Farid Ahmed said that the maritime ports of Chattogram had been advised to keep hoisted local cautionary signal No 3 as squally weather was likely to affect those.

All the fishing boats and trawlers on the North Bay have been advised to remain close to the coast and proceed with caution until further notice.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net