By NNN-BSS
Dhaka : With the major rivers and others swelled by heavy rains upstream and inside, Bangladesh’s northern, north-central and south-central regions are facing the second spell of floods during the next 48-72 hours, Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) said Saturday.
The flashflood in Sylhet district is likely to deteriorate further and will spill over the districts of Sunamganj, Habiganj, Maulvibazar and Netrakona during the next 24-48 hours.
The southeastern districts of Feni, Chittagong, Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar are in the grip of flashflood and the situation may deteriorate during the next 24
hours, the FFWC said in its latest observation report.
Floodwaters have already started probing the low-lying areas of Sirajganj when the mighty Brahmaputra-Jamuna crossed its danger level (DL) at 6 am today. Kurigram, Gaibandha and
Nilphamari too are facing the similar situation, the FFWC sources said.
Heavy rains have already swelled the Halda river at Narayanhat in Chittagong which had risen by 340 cm above the DL.
The authorities at the Teesta barrage had to discharge its extra water as it came under heavy pressure due to the onrush of water from the upstream following heavy rains in the sub-
Himalayan West Bengal, the FFWC sources said.
Already the northern districts of Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur and Gaibandha are under the spell of flashfloods.
The situation was created due to a highly active monsoon receiving a booster from last week’s merger of a low pressure over West Bengal after it crossed the coast near southwestern
Bangladesh.
It left the Bay of Bengal also in turmoil following steep pressure gradient covered by convective clouds, pumping in the rain-bearing clouds over to Bangladesh and its adjacent areas to
the northeast and northwest.
The meteorological departments in both Bangladesh and India forecast more rains.
The monsoon triggered heavy rains across the Ganges- Meghna, Brahmaputra basins in and outside the country to Arunachal, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura to the
northeast and West Bengal and eastern Uttar Pradesh.
It consequently swelled the Brahmaputra-Jamuna, Ganges-Padma, Teesta and all the southeastern hill basin rivers as well as the northeastern rivers like Surma, Kushiyara, Manu and the
Meghna.
However, the FFWC sources said despite the sudden onrush of water and swelling of the major river systems, their rate of rise would become slower during the next 72 hours.
As the majors swell the minor rivers around the capital have remained well below their respective DL despite some of them registering rises, pose no immediate danger to the city, the FFWC
sources said.