Heavy rain, onrush of water trigger fear of flood in northeastern region

Heavy rains and an onrush of water from the upstream have triggered fears of floods in Sunamganj and Netrokona under Bangladesh's northeastern Sylhet region, reports bdnews24.com.
The water levels of the rivers in the region were rising on Friday, said Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan, Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWBD).
The region and its upstream may experience heavy to very heavy rainfalls in the next 72 hours, according to forecasts.
The low-lying rural areas of Sylhet, Sunamganj, and Netrokona are likely to suffer short-term floods in the next few days due to a rise in water levels of the Surma, the Kushiyara, the Jadukata, the Sarigoain and the Someshwari.
The Teesta river may flow near the danger level at Daliya point in the next 24 hours.
In Sunamganj, many low-lying areas were flooded as rivers in the district continued to swell over the past few days.
The BWDB recorded 150 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours to Friday in Sunamganj, and 275 mm of rainfall at the Lauergar point in the district's Tahirpur, according to the agency's Executive Engineer Shamsuddoha.
On Friday, the Surma River was flowing 43 cm below the danger level after rising 24 cm in a day. However, the river's water level at the district's Chhatak area was 46 cm above the danger mark. "Currently, a sufficient amount of water has entered the haor wetlands," the BWDB engineer said.
Meanwhile, the water levels of the Someshwari and Uddakhali rivers in Sunamganj's Madhyanagar Upazila have risen by as much as a foot since Thursday due to persistent rainfall in the past few days and upstream runoffs.
As a result, floodwaters inundated roads in the upazila's Chamordani, Bongshikunda and Mohishkhola, causing untold suffering to residents, according to Alamgir Khashru, a local union council chairman.
Dhaka experienced 87 mm of rainfall in the six hours to 06:00 pm as the gloomy weather continued to dampen Eid-ul-Azha festivities.
Chattogram experienced the highest rainfall of 138 mm in the 24 hours to 6am.
Bangladesh Meteorological Department said the axis of monsoon trough runs through Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal to Assam across northern part of Bangladesh as monsoon is fairly active over Bangladesh and moderate over North Bay.
It said light to moderate rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at most places over Rajshahi, Rangpur, Dhaka, Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions and at many places over Khulna, Barishal and Chattogram divisions with moderately heavy to very heavy falls at places over the country.
The trend of rainfall may continue for two more days.