Flood loss estimated at Tk 5,972cr

Disaster Management and Relief Ministry on Tuesday said that so far the flood caused losses worth Tk 5,972 crore affecting 33 central and northern districts.

Many areas in central Bangladesh is still under water while coastal districts saw many people freshly driven out of their houses because the flood situation in the coastal region is worsening.

Enamur Rahman, the state minister for disaster management and relief, said that though seven southern districts were flooded damage caused to them was very small and not worth mentioning.

‘We are under instructions from the prime minister that we need to immediately start rehabilitation of the flood-affected people,’ said the state minister.

The minister however did not give any detail of the losses caused, including how many people lost their houses or livestock or what was the condition of road communication in the flood-affected areas.

As the minister hosted the online briefing to sum up the losses the flood caused, dozens of families were still spending their days at flood shelters in central districts where three rivers, including the Padma, were still flowing above their flood levels.

Hundreds of others were still out of home on embankment or at relatives in central and southern coastal districts with forecasters predicting that flooding of the areas might worsen over the next three days because of heavy rains inside Bangladesh and in upstream.

‘People are returning home and our first priority is to get them a shelter,’ said the minister.

He said that the ministry planned to build 110 flood shelters and 20 cyclone shelters over the next year to increase the government’s ability to help more people during the flood.

He said that the government would also build 60 multipurpose boats over the next three years to help evacuate the affected people during flood.

The minister said that the most affected areas were Kurigram, Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Tangail, Shariatpur, Madaripur and Munshiganj.

Enam said that the Met Office warned the ministry about the possibility of further flooding at the end of September and cyclones in October and November.

He said that the government distributed 20,310 tonnes of rice and Tk 4.31 crore among the flood-affected people.

Another Tk 1.58 crore was spent for baby food among flood-affected people while Tk 3.34 crore for fodder and Tk 19.50 lakh for rebuilding houses, he said.

The ministry also distributed 650 bundles of corrugated sheets to help people rebuild their houses, he said.

The government has a plan to build 1,000 flood shelters, 1,000 cyclone shelters and 1,000 Mujib Kella by 2023, the minister said.

A flood Forecasting and Warning Centre bulletin said on Tuesday morning that flood water might recede from the low-lying areas of Manikganj, Rajbari and Faridpur through Wednesday.

Bangladesh Meteorological Department said that light to moderate rain may occur in many places in Dhaka, Khulna, Barishal, Chattogram and Rajshahi divisions through Wednesday.

The BMD asked all four maritime ports to continue hoisting signal No 3 due to rough sea under the influence of a low that is expected to bring heavy rains over next three days.

India Meteorological Department said that under the influence of the low formed over the north bay, heavy rains might occur over Gangetic West Bengal through Friday.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net