A rickshaw-puller having difficulties to move on with his vehicle through one of the inundated roads of the Journalists Housing along Kalshi Road at Pallabi in the capital following Friday\'s downpour. Residents remained marooned for at least four hours a FE Report
Incessant rains across the country on Friday crippled city life, causing disruption in trade and business in the capital.
Roads in many areas in the city went under knee to waist-deep water since morning as the continuous downpour throughout the day threw the traffic system into chaos on the first day of the two-day public holiday.
The situation was worse than that of other days.
Even rainwater in some areas entered shops, houses and markets washing away prospects of good sale ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr. Many residents and shopkeepers were forced to scoop out water with whatever utensils they could find.
The situation turned worst in areas like Shantinagar, Malibagh, Moghbazar, Rampura, Kazipara, Shewrapara, various parts of Mirpur, Pallabi, Mohammadpur, Lalbagh, Azimpur, Jhigatola, Badda, Gulshan, Uttara, Khilkhet, Jatrabari, Demra and Old Dhaka.
Heavy showers started at around 9:30am and continued at a stretch for the next five hours. Roadside drains spilled over with rainwater and abominable filth making movement of people for saying prayers and shopping miserable.
During the rainy hours, many vehicles were seen collapsing on streets causing severe tailbacks on the day that normally sees less traffic as Friday is a public holiday. There was a dearth of transports as well. The vehicles were seen spending more than one hour to cross less than half a kilometre distance because of the waterlogged roads.
"It took more than two and a half hours to reach Purana Paltan intersection from North Badda. It was really horrible as none takes care of the capital's poor drainage system," Saiful Islam, who works in a private firm, said.
Many street vendors had to keep their businesses closed despite the day being very close to Eid, a time when they experience high sales. "I could not open my business till 2:30pm of the day because of the rain," Mohammad Ripon, a low-cost cloth trader in Gulistan, said.
However, meteorologists said the country has been experiencing heavy shower following deep convection in the North Bay. Deep convection is taking place under the influence of monsoon low over the Northwest Bay off Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh coast, they said.
According to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), 37 millimetres (mm) of rains were recorded in the capital for 9 hours since 6:00am and maximum rainfall (88mm) was recorded in Khulna.
"The intensity of rains would decrease from tomorrow," Meteorologist Abul Kalam Mallik said.
When contacted, Additional Chief Engineer of the Dhaka South City Corporation Nurul Amin said the problem of water-logging largely arises because of the poor maintenance of the main drainage line, where the surface drainage lines were connected.
He said a city should have 10 to 12 per cent water-retention ponds as rainwater passes through these into canals. But Dhaka now has only three to four per cent retention ponds.
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