Receding flood waters reveal extensive damage in Sylhet
2 more deaths push up toll to 84 in country
Monday, 27 June 2022
Flood claimed two more lives in Sherpur and Habiganj districts in 24 hours till Sunday morning, raising the total fatalities to 84, reports UNB.
Each of them died by drowning in floodwater, according to the Directorate general of Health services (DGHS).
The total deaths were recorded from May 17 to June 25.
Among a total of 70 flood-affected upazilas, 33 upazilas are in Sylhet division, 16 in Rangpur division, 20 in Mymensingh division and one in Chattogram division.
Sylhet, Sunamganj, Netrokona and Kurigram are the worst-hit districts where 13, 11, 10 and 9 upazilas were affected by flood respectively.
A total of 1,944 flood shelters have been opened, while 2,051 medical teams are working to provide various health services to the flood-affected people.
In Sylhet as the waters started receding following Sylhet division's worst flood in living memory, the disastrous damage it inflicted also became evident, along with the challenge any recovery effort will face in the days ahead.
The death toll from the third flash flood of the year in Sylhet reached 52 till Sunday morning (from May 17), according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), but this is almost certainly an underestimate, with local sources claiming the toll to be much higher. Many areas haven't even been accessed, where the authorities have no idea of casualties.
According to Sylhet District administration, around 2.2 million people from 0.4 million families are bearing the brunt of this terrible disaster while 80 per cent of the area still remains under water as of Sunday.
"Part of Sylhet City Corporation, all the 13 upazilas and five municipalities and 94 unions were affected in the district. The exact number of people facing the damages will be 21,87,232 of 4,16,819 families," said Ahsanul Alam, Assistant Commissioner of District Administration.
He said 22,450 houses and 28,945 hectares of cropland have been damaged according to official estimation so far.
However, locals are claiming the damage is vaster and the recovery will be long.