5 Million People Stranded in Sylhet (video)

Sylhet has been submerged in flood waters due to heavy rains and hill slopes for the last few days. 5 million people have been stranded in different Upazilas of Sylhet and Moulvibazar.

Sylhet Divisional Commissioner. Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain made the remarks at a coordination meeting on flood relief activities on Saturday (June 18).

He said the administration was assisting the army and local people's representatives so that the victims could be rescued quickly or emergency relief could be reached from the flood-hit areas.

In addition to the army, the navy, air force, and coast guard have been involved in the rescue operation since Saturday. Deputy Commissioner Mojibar Rahman has given this information.

The flood situation in Sylhet-Sunamganj has further deteriorated as new areas have been flooded. The rising flood waters have also increased the suffering of the people in the already flooded areas. After the Surma river, the water of Kushiyara river is also flowing over the danger zone.

As a result, new areas in Beanibazar, Golapganj, Fenchuganj, Balaganj and surrounding areas have been flooded. Continuous rainfall and downhill slopes continue.

Rail communication from Sylhet to the rest of the country has been declared closed due to rising flood waters at Sylhet railway station. Trains will run from Dhaka or Chittagong to Maizgaon station in Fenchuganj upazila from noon on Saturday (June 18).

The inter-district bus terminal in Sylhet was also submerged in the flood waters. So bus communication with Sylhet has also stopped.

The situation is likely to become more critical as the ongoing rains continue as per the weather forecast.

Saeed Ahmad Chowdhury, a senior meteorologist at the Meteorological Department in Sylhet, said it was forecast to rain for at least two more days. At the same time, heavy rains will continue in the upper reaches. This will increase the river water.

He said 47 mm of rainfall was recorded from Saturday morning till noon. In the last 24 hours, 109 mm rainfall has been recorded in Sylhet.

He further said that according to the record of rainfall from 6 am to 9 am, more rain is expected today.

Asif Ahmed, executive engineer of the Sylhet Water Development Board, said river water was also rising as the hill slopes and rainfall continued. As a result, the overall flood situation is deteriorating.

According to the latest information provided by Paubo at 9 am on Saturday, the Surma river is flowing at Sylhet (city) point with a danger level of 69 cm. The river Surma was flowing at Kanaighat point with a height of 96 cm. Meanwhile, the Kushiyara River is flowing at Sheola Point at a height of 26 cm above the danger line. Kushiyara at Sherpur and Fenchuganj points and Surma at Amalsid point.