Several thousand people in Atrai, Raninagar and Manda upazilas of Naogaon district became stranded as the Atrai River rose 39 centimetres above the danger level on Saturday, flooding vast areas and submerging about 17,000 bigha of Aman paddy and other crops.
Floodwater entered homesteads and submerged roads, including a three-kilometre stretch of the Patisar-Shomspara road in Atrai, while a dyke collapsed in Talpatila area under Kasab union in Manda upazila early Saturday, inundating vast areas and submerging cropland and fish farms.
According to the Bangladesh Water Development Board, at least eight to ten points of the flood control embankment in Atrai, Raninagar and Manda upazila are highly risky.
Villagers said that continuous rain and onrush of water from upstream swelled the Atrai since Friday, when water at Atrai Railway Station point rose crosses the danger mark.
By Saturday noon, it reached 39cm above the danger level.
Farmer Abdul Halim lamented that his 95 bigha of paddy had gone under water, causing him a loss of about Tk 6 lakh.
Atrai upazila agriculture officer Prosenjit Kumar said that in just a week, crops on around 10,500 bigha of land had gone under water, while fresh areas were going under water every hour.
Raninagar upazila agriculture officer Zahidul Islam said that nearly 2,500 bigha of Aman paddy and other crops were entirely submerged, while crops across 3,075 bigha were partially affected.
Naogaon WDB sub-divisional engineer Probir Kumar Pal said that floodwater had put embankments at Nandaibari, Rasulpur, Laluya, Jagdas, Bhanga Jangal, Baithakhali and Nandanali at risk.
鈥榃e are monitoring risky points near the river round the clock and making locals aware of emergency steps,鈥� he said, adding that water might start receding within days as rainfall had decreased and upstream flow had begun to ease.
Meanwhile, 10,000 families in Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj remained marooned for the third consecutive day on Saturday as low-lying areas were flooded due to a rise in the Padma water level.
According to the Rajshahi Water Development Board, the water level of the Padma at T-groin point in Rajshahi city receded by 7cm in the past 24 hours till Saturday evening as it was flowing 63cm below the danger mark.