The death toll from very heavy rains, accompanied by strong winds and storm surges, for days rose to nine on Saturday with six new deaths confirmed, five of them caused by drowning in rivers in the north-eastern, eastern, and south-eastern regions.聽聽聽
At least 10 people remained missing as well after being swept away by rapidly swelling rivers and falling victim to a boat capsize on Saturday amidst intermittent heavy to very heavy rains.
The deceased includes two sisters 鈥� Maria, 11, and Samia, 8 鈥� who slipped into a canal at Gokorno village in Brahmanbaria鈥檚 Nasirnagar upazila before being washed away.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Brahmanbaria reported that the sisters鈥� bodies were recovered on Saturday morning. The sisters were herding cattle back home amidst rain when they fell into the canal flowing into the Titas River.
Chattogram divisional commissioner鈥檚 office confirmed one more death -- from lightning in Cox鈥檚 Bazar -- without elaborating the incident.
A 17-year-old youth, Ukraching Marma, drowned after being washed away while catching fish at a canal in Lakkhichhari on Friday morning, 抖阴精品 correspondent in Khagrachhari reported.
Two other people, washed away by rivers in Lakkhichhari and Maini, also remained missing until Saturday. About 3,000 people also lived in conditions exposed to landslide risk in the south-eastern district amidst continued rain and onrush of water from the upstream, pushing water levels up by the minute.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Noakhali reported a death after a boat capsized in the Meghna River in Hatia at 3:00pm with 39 people on board.
Hatia police station鈥檚 officer-in-charge AKM Azmal Huda said that eight people, including a cop, were still missing. The boat was carrying sick Rohingya refugees and NGO workers, among others, from Bhashanchar.
The Meghna River basin remained highly volatile with rivers swelling very rapidly amidst almost non-stop rain and onrush of water from the upstream across the border in India.
The depression that started moving onto land on Thursday weakened into a less-marked low in Assam and adjacent areas on Saturday afternoon after producing almost non-stop rains all over Bangladesh during the time of its passing.
The low continued causing extremely heavy rainfall in India through Saturday with the India Meteorological Department placing its states such as Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh under red alert.
Indian media already confirmed five deaths in Assam where rains triggered landslides. In the 24 hours until 8:30am on Saturday, the IMD said, extremely heavy rainfall occurred in Assam and Meghalaya with 470mm of rainfall recorded in Cherrapunji. Vast areas in the other upstream Indian states received up to 300mm of rainfall during the same time, sending huge volumes of water downstream toward north-east Bangladesh.
Rural Electrification Board officials said that they had to shut down a power sub-station at Baralekha of Moulvibazar after the station was inundated by a sudden onrush of water from the upstream.
REB confirmed that inclement weather rendered 80 lakh people out of electricity coverage on Friday. Over one lakh people were without electricity until Saturday with the number likely going up with the situation in northeast districts worsening.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Sylhet reported that Sylhet city streets lay mostly swamped as rain continued through Saturday, causing extreme inconveniences to its inhabitants, mainly the poor living in deplorable housing conditions.
The Met Office recorded 202mm rainfall in Sylhet, the highest in Bangladesh, in the 24 hours ending at 6:00pm on Saturday with prediction of the rain continuing at many places in Sylhet division through May 4.
Sylhet City Corporation opened a control room to remain open round the clock to assist the city dwellers struck by serious water stagnation problem.
Goainghat upazila nirbahi officer Ratan Kumar Adhikari told 抖阴精品 that heavy rain and onrush of water submerged parts of Goainghat-Radhanagar road in the upazila at noon.
A boatman drowned after the boat he was carrying passengers in was struck by lightning at Kanaighat upazila in Sylhet at 1:30pm on Saturday. The deceased was identified as Tajul Islam, 36.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Center in a bulletin released on Saturday afternoon said that the districts of Netrakona, Sylhet, Sunamganj, and Moulvibazar were at risk of flash flooding.
Rivers like Lubachhara, Surma, Kushiyara, and Khowai swelled by more than 300cm in the 24 hours until 9:00am on Saturday, said the FFWC, with Khowai recording the highest rise of 360cm in its water level.
Rivers such as Sarigowain, Manu, Someswari, Gumti, and Sangu also swelled by more than 200cm over the same time, the FFWC said.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department asked its four maritime ports to lower signal. The BMD however kept its landslide warning issued for Chattogram, Rangamati, Bandarban, Khagrachari, and Cox鈥檚 Bazar in place until 6:00pm today.
Heavy to very heavy rainfalls might occur at places until Saturday afternoon in all eight divisions of the country, the BMD said. The BMD said that the monsoon onset completed all over Bangladesh on Saturday.
Many areas along coast remained exposed to salt-water flooding after the storm breached coastal protection embankments at many places. The Department of Disaster Management did not give any account of damage caused by the storm until Saturday night. The DDM officials did not even answer calls made over the phone.
A large number of farmers are believed to have been affected by the inclement weather that left vast areas, particularly low-lying lands, inundated.
In Rajshahi vast swathes of boro field went under water just before their harvest.聽聽聽聽聽聽
Operation of boats from Bairshal to Dhaka resumed on Saturday after two days of suspension.
The BMD predicted that the day temperature might start rising from tomorrow.
