Fish, crab, shrimp worth Tk 83m washed away by floods in Satkhira

Department of Fisheries in Satkhira district incurred a loss of Tk 82.8 million as fish, crab, and shrimp on 1,655 hectares have been washed away by the floodwaters following the partially collapse of protection dam of Kholpetua river, reports UNB.
The 150 feet embankment, built for the protection of coastal areas collapsed due to high tide on July 14, causing immense suffering to thousands of people from nearly 3,500 families of nine villages in Burigoalini union of Shyamnagar upazila.
Three days have passed, but the authorities have not repaired the collapsed embankment yet and the damages from the flood continued to increase untill Sunday.
"We are preparing a list of the fish farmers who incurred losses and it will soon be sent to the concerned ministry," said Anisur Rahman, Satkhira Fisheries Officer.
The inundated villages at ward-5 of Burigoalini union are Purbo Durgabati, Poschim Durgabati, Madia, Alpangasia, Bilai, Kalbari, Ruporgati, Purbo Porakatla and Poschim Porakatla.
Chairman of Burigoalini Union Parishad Haji Nazrul Islam said the dam could not be repaired yet due to the strong current of tidal water in the river.
"But we have made some ring dams on both sides with bamboo for now. If the water flow declines, an attempt to repair the dam will be made by dumping soil and sand bags," he said.
He said thousands in the flooded villages are suffering extreme food and water crisis.
Meanwhile, an embankment built to combat erosion by the Kopotakkho river in Charmukha area under Khulna's Koyra upazila has collapsed because of the heavy pressure of water due to high tide inundating the area.
The embankment started to crack on Sunday noon. The locals are fearing that vast areas will be inundated due to high tide if the embankment isn't repaired in due time.
According to Osman Gani, a member of the local ward, a road on one side of the Charmukha canal went into the riverbed around 4:00 am.
"The road was in a precarious condition for a long time. Many other roads and houses have started to go extinct due to increased flow of the Kopotakkho river. We're trying to repair the dam on our own initiative. Large parts of the area will be inundated if we can't repair the dam within the next one to two hours," Osman said.