Year\\\'s highest rainfall in Sylhet, city dwellers badly suffer

From A Correspondent | Published: June 14, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

SYLHET, June 13: Sylhet experienced excessive rainfall for the last 3 days paralysing the civic life.
Excessive rains for the last 3 days has caused severe water stagnancy in different areas of the city and around. Life in the city went almost standstill as many houses were submerged and roads gone under water.
Contacted, Sylhet regional met office's meterilogist Kabir Ahmed told this correspondent yesterday, "we experienced the season's highest rainfall 146 mm in 24 hours till 6:00 Am Thursday. Besides, 121 mm rain was recorded in 36 hours till 3 Pm yesterday (Friday). The trend will continue for days more", he added.
City peoples' movement was thin as they could not come out of their houses due to continued downpour. Plying of vehicles of all type was also poor on the streets.
Areas like Electric supply road, Loharpara, Hawapara, Darga Mohalla, Sonarpara, Tantipara, Sagardighirpar, Mirzajangal, Bagbari, Pathantola, Rainagar, Jatarpur, Taltola, Bhatalia, Bilopar, Barobazar, Khasdobir, Uposhahar, Teroratan and Masimpur etc are inundated.
A number of city dwellers alleged the water stagnancy takes place in Sylhet mainly due to the grabbing of major parts of the 9 natural streams in the city areas by influential. Over a hundred crore taka was spent in the last 6 years to clear those, but the success was almost nil, said Ataur Rahman, a businessman of the city's Dhopadighirpar area.
Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) chief engineer Nur Azizur Rahman, however, admitted water stagnation after heavy rainfall, especially in the low-lying areas in the city is common in the city due to poor drainage system. Mainly it was due to the drains being blocked with wastages, for which rain water cannot pass immediately, he added.
'People's suffering from the water stagnation has reduced significantly in the recent years after drainage system in the city has been renovated,' the SCC official said, adding that the rainwater that remains in the low-lying areas would recede within hours after the rain stops.
We would soon do some works worth one million taka to resolve the problem in some areas, he added. iqbal1527@hotmail.com