Floods hit Sunamganj, Sylhet again

SYLHET, July 02: Heavy downpour and upstream water have triggered floods in Sylhet and Sunamganj regions again, leaving many low-lying areas submerged and hundreds of people marooned.
Sources said rain had been taking place since Monday in Sylhet region and upstream water was coming from the Indian state of Meghalaya.
Due to the heavy rain, five rivers were flowing above the red mark at six points on Tuesday.
Especially, the Kushiara was flowing 81cm above the danger mark at its entry point to Bangladesh on Amolshid border in Zakiganj, officials said.
Sylhet WDB executive engineer Dipok Ranjan Das told this correspondent that 300mm rain was recorded during the last 24 hours. It was 640mm in the last three days.
The overall flood situation in the region might deteriorate due to the excessive rain.
The region was first hit on 27 May followed by another on 15 June. Over 10 lakh people were marooned in the last two weeks before floodwater started receding slowly.
Meanwhile, the 3rd-phase flood started hitting the region on Monday afternoon. Already Compani-ganj, Jaintapur, Gowainghat and Kanaighat upazilas of Sylhet are affected by the  flooding again.
With breaches developed along the Surma River on 18 points of its dyke, villages and Kanaighat municipal areas were flooded.
New dwellings in Companiganj, Gowainghat and Jaintapur upazilas were inundated again, leaving people in fresh trouble. Most of the rural roads went under water.
An official at the Sylhet DC office said that amid rain and upstream water, the flooding again went deteriorated since Sunday night.
A total of 8,407 people were now staying at 197 shelters in the district while 711,226 people are badly affected in 1184 villages of 97 unions in 13 upazilas of Sylhet.
In another development, Sunamganj district is facing another phase of flooding with heavy downpour and upstream water.
At least 5 lakh inhabitants of five upazilas of the district have been hit hard by flooding while all the rivers, including the Surma, were flowing above the danger mark.
The district recorded 300mm rain in the last 24 hours.
Traffic remained suspended on Tahirpur upazila- Sunamganj road for three days.
Locals are now using boats there to cross the Surma river.
Meanwhile, two women and a child went missing when a boat capsized in the Surma near Azampur of Doarabazar upazila.
Others managed to swim ashore, but they remained missing, sources said.
The missing people were Jyotsna Begum, 32, her daughter Moina, 2, and Gulbadan Bibi, 65.
Police and firefighters were searching for the bodies, they added.
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