Over half of the Sylhet city had been affected as the north-eastern district watched its flash flood situation worsen on Monday amid very heavy rain and onrush of water from the upstream.
Thousands of people in the city found themselves cut-off in their homes, surrounded by up to knee-deep water, as the flash flood engulfed 28 out of 42 wards in the Sylhet City Corporation.
Many city dwellers remained awake the whole night in darkness without electricity as the water level continued to rise steadily amid non-stop heavy rain.
By the morning ground floors of vast city areas were under water, including of the critical infrastructure, such as hospitals.
鈥楢lmost every room on the ground floor of the hospital building has been flooded,鈥� said Mahbubur Rahman Bhuiyan, director, Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital.
He regretted that the hospital remained unprotected against flood despite their raising alarm about the hospital鈥檚 vulnerability when the last flash flood hit in mid-June of 2022.
The flash flood of 2022 is considered one of the worst in history, requiring troops to come out to rescue people from the flood affected areas.
At the peak of that flash flood, no land was left to be submerged in Sylhet and Sunamganj.
At least 10,000 families remained stranded in flood-affected areas in Sylhet city on Monday.
In Upa-Shahar in the city, some residents of E-Block said that electricity and gas supplies remained suspended since Sunday night.聽
Some city dwellers said that they stayed awake with their children to keep an eye on the rising water level.
Sabbir Ahmed, a resident of I Block, said that almost all roads in the area had been inundated for several days and that the water was now in his residence following torrential rain on Monday.
鈥楩lash floods seem to have become a regular incident. Poor city drainage system is complicating the matter further,鈥� he said.
Takbir Islam, councillor of the Ward 26, said that about 40 per cent residences in the ward faced flooding.
The Sylhet City Corportation confirmed opening 12 flood shelters and it also opened a control room at the Nagar Bhaban for monitoring the flood situation.
According to the Sylhet Meteorological Office, 226.6 millimetres rainfall was recorded in six hours between 12 midnight and 6:00am on Monday and 47.2mm more rainfall was recorded in another six-hour time till 12 noon.
The flash flood also affected nine out of Sylhet鈥檚 13 upazilas鈥擥oainghat, Companiganj, Jaintapur, Kanaighat, Jakiganj, Beanibazar, Golapganj, Sylhet sadar and Biswhanath.
Nearly a million people in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts were believed to have been affected by the flood that hit on May 30, triggered by the cyclonic storm Remal that made landfall between the West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts on May 26.
A total of 1,400 packets of dry food, 425 tonnes of rice and Tk 36.5 lakh in cash were released for the flood victims, according to the deputy commissioner鈥檚 office.
Sylhet deputy commissioner Sheikh Russel Hasan told 抖阴精品 that the overall flood situation remained unchanged across the district but deteriorated in the city.
He admitted that water stagnation particularly worsened the situation in the city.
The deputy commissioner also admitted that there was no rescue-boats to send to help people.
The implication of not having boats to rescue people can be understood with the incident happened on May 31 in Jaintapur.
A college student desperately seeking help posted on Facebook on that day that he and his mother were about to drown with floodwater running just below their nose. His repeated appeals prompted a group of youths to rescue the victims.
The local administration did not respond for what they said they lacked a rescue boat.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said that the flash flood situation was unlikely to improve much until May 6 as heavy rain forecasts continued upstream.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded 268mm of rainfall in Sylhet in the 24 hours until 6:00pm on Monday.
Other places in Sylhet also witnessed extremely heavy rain. Lorergarh recorded 127mm of rainfall in the 24 hours until 9:00am on Monday, while Latu recorded 175mm of rainfall.
Heavy to very heavy rainfall was also recorded in Jaflong, Chhatak, Zakiganj, Dakhinbagh and Sunamganj.
The FFWC also confirmed 171mm of rainfall in Golapara of Assam and 122mm of rainfall in Cherrapunji of Meghalaya over the same period.
The Surma flowed 58cm above its danger mark at Kanaighat and 13cm above its danger mark at Sylhet.
The Kushiyara flowed 48cm above its danger mark at Amalshid.
The BMD predicted light to moderate rain accompanied by temporary gusty wind at most places over Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions, at a few places over Rangpur, Rajshahi and Dhaka divisions and at one or two places over Khulna, Barishal and Chattogram divisions with moderately heavy to very heavy falls in the 24 hours until 6:00pm today.
The BMD also said that a mild heatwave was sweeping the districts of Rajshahi, Pabna, Sirajganj, Bogura, Dhaka,Tangail, Faridpur, Jashore, Chuadanga and Kushtia and it might continue.
Bangladesh鈥檚 highest maximum day air temperature of 37.2C was recorded in Ishurdi on Monday.
