Heavy shower disrupts civic life in Ctg

CHITTAGONG, May 22 (BSS): Moderate to heavy rainfall for the second consecutive day today disrupted civic life and business activities in Chittagong city. Nearly half of the city went under water. At the same time, most of the district experienced moderate to heavy rainfall causing a serious dislocation of everyday life. The heavy downpour accompanied by gusty wind began at about 8:24 pm yesterday and continued intermittently till writing this report today. Patenga Meteorological office recorded 62.6 millimetre of rainfall in last 24 hours ending at 3:00 pm today. The Met office further forecast that moderate to heavy rainfall is likely to occur in the next twenty-four hours in Chittagong and some other parts of the country as maritime ports including Chittagong is still under the cautionary signal number 3. In the low-lying areas of the city the clogged rainwater entered inside a large number of houses and business establishments damaging their valuables. Movements of mechanised vehicles in most of the city streets were hampered and a good number of vehicles remained stationary in knee-deep water. Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport (SAIA) traffic control room sources said two scheduled flights including one international flight could not land at SAIA and were forced to return to Dhaka at around 4:00 pm while three other domestic flights have been delayed for two to three hours.