At a time when thousands of people face a humanitarian crisis, deprived of basic needs such as access to water, food, and medical care, along the southern coastal region, flash floods hit scores of people in north-eastern villages on Wednesday.
The cyclonic storm Remal, which took three days to complete landfall and cross over land with heavy wind gusting to 100kmph or even more and rainfall reaching 300mm, finally dissipated and became unimportant over the Indian state of Assam on Wednesday.
The track the storm treaded became the scene of extensive damage, parts of it being swept up by a tidal surge that saw water walls rise up to 12 feet, tearing through what came in its way 鈥� fragile coastal embankments, dilapidated dwellings, and the great Sundarbans.
Millions remained without electricity days after the cyclone hit the Bangladesh and West Bengal coasts on Sunday, leaving scores of worst-hit villages along the coast of the Bay of Bengal mostly unreachable by mobile communication.
Authorities could not produce a complete picture of the destruction, saying that many of their local offices were still beyond communication.
The Department of Fisheries, however, in a preliminary estimate, put the loss in the sector at over Tk 850 crore, with 83,000 fish farms washed away in 88 upazilas in 18 districts.
鈥楾he storm destroyed everything we had,鈥� said Alauddin Mollah, a resident of Dumki, a village in Pangasia, a union by the river Payra.
The base of Alauddin鈥檚 house was washed away in three phases of tidal surges sweeping Patuakhali as the storm raged over the coast between Sunday and Monday before moving onto the central region and then to the northeastern region.
The roof and walls of Alauddin鈥檚 house, made up of corrugated sheets, were blown away.
鈥榃e have not received any aid so far,鈥� said Alauddin, who is a fisherman facing great difficulties taking care of his giant family of 16.
About 4,000 people in Pangasia remained stranded as saline water kept flooding the union during high tide since parts of the embankment separating them from the rising ocean were washed away.
Zahidur Rahman, chairman of Rangabali union parishad, which falls in the constituency of the state minister for disaster management and relief, Mohibur Rahman, received 15 tonnes of rice in relief for its 18,000 affected people.
鈥楾his relief allocation is too inadequate, for it would take long for these already hungry people to return to normal life,鈥� said Zahid.
As a result of the storm, about 5,000 people remain stranded in Rangabali, where embankments were destroyed severely.
According to the disaster situation report released by the disaster management and relief ministry on Wednesday, Remal impacted nearly 4.6 million people, dismantling completely over 40,000 houses and partially over 1.33 lakh more residences.
The storm killed at least 31 people.
The disaster management ministry鈥檚 report also revealed that Tk 3.85 crore was so far distributed among disaster-affected people, besides 5,500 tonnes of rice.
For baby food, Tk 1.50 crore was released, the ministry said, also confirming the distribution of 5000 packets of dry foods and Tk 1.50 crore more in fodder costs.
Several hundred families became stranded in Kulaura and Kamalganj of Moulvibazar after a flash flood hit 20 villages, inundating agricultural land.
The flash flooding was triggered by two days of downpours in Sylhet, which recorded 303mm of rainfall in the 24 hours until 6:00pm on Tuesday. Another 62mm of rainfall was recorded in Sylhet in the 24 hours until 6:00pm on Wednesday.
鈥極ur rice fields, papaya and brinjal fields, and vegetable gardens are completely submerged. Crops will not survive this flood,鈥� said Akhtar Mia, a farmer.
The local office of the Water Development Board confirmed breaches in river protection embankments due to flash flooding in the area.
News agency United News of Bangladesh reported flash flooding in the low-lying areas of 13 unions in the Gowainghat upazila, prompted by heavy rainfall and an onrush of water from upstream.
The Gowaingha upazila was cut off from parts of its areas after its roads went under water due to flash flooding.
The local administration has already asked people in the flood-hit areas to relocate to safer places.
Touhidul Islam, the upazila nirbahi officer of Gowainghat, said 56 shelter centres were prepared in 13 unions.
Rural Electrification Board officials meanwhile struggled to restore power connections to remote coastal areas.
The storm uprooted thousands of trees and electric poles, affecting the distribution network so badly that 3.3 crore people lost their power connection.
鈥楽o many trees have remained still fallen on electric cables that it is a mammoth task to remove them,鈥� said Biswanath Sikder, chief engineer, REB, who is currently visiting Patuakhali.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department, in its 24-hour weather bulletin issued at 6:00pm on Wednesday, predicted rain accompanied by temporary gusty wind at a few places over Rangpur, Mymensingh, and Sylhet divisions and at one or two places over Dhaka and Chattogram divisions.
The weather may remain mainly dry with a temporary partly cloudy sky elsewhere in the country, the BMD said.
On Wednesday, Bangladesh鈥檚 highest maximum day air temperature was 36.4C in Raqjshahi.