Chattogram streets go under as heavy rain, high tide overwhelm drains

Heavy rain combined with high tide has flooded parts of Chattogram city once again.

The city recorded 109mm of rain between 6am and 9am on Monday, taking the 24-hour total to 201mm by noon.

Waterlogging hit Katalganj, Panchlaish, Muradpur, Bahaddarhat, Chawkbazar, Baduratola, Kapasgola, Agrabad, Uttar Katalganj, Dakshin Nalapara, Jamalkhan, GEC Circle, Prabartak Circle, Ice Factory Road, parts of Bakalia, Tin Poler Matha and Mehedibagh, disrupting movement for residents and letting water seep into ground-floor shops and markets.

The rain eased after 11am, and water gradually began to recede in several areas.

A depression over the Bay of Bengal, combined with the monsoon, could bring similarly heavy rain until Tuesday, said Md Ismail Bhuiyan, forecasting officer at the Patenga Met Office.

Shaibal Pariyal, a resident of Jamalkhan, said the three-hour downpour had sent drains overflowing, leaving knee-deep water on the main road.

“Work on the canals and drains has been going on for the past three or four years.”

"Last month, they blamed the waterlogging on a dam in the canal. This time, there's no dam. If all this work still hasn't improved the canals' and drains' capacity, what was the point of spending billions of taka?" Pariyal said.

Water entered every shop on the ground floor of Chawk Super Market in Chawkbazar, forcing owners and staff to move their goods to safety.

Nearby, the Telipatty intersection also had knee-deep water in the morning.

Further towards Kapasgola, in front of the ward councillor's office, the canal and the road sat at the same water level, making it impossible to tell them apart.

Saiful Islam, a resident of Katalganj's residential area, said: "The road has waist-deep water, and there's knee-deep water beneath our homes. A few hours of sudden rain this morning caused all this. We don't know when we'll be free of this misery."

The waterlogging on the city's main roads left office-goers, students and commuters stranded, forcing many to pay extra fares to reach their destinations.

Ismail Bhuiyan of the Patenga Met Office said 201mm of rain was recorded in the 24 hours to noon, including 109mm of very heavy rainfall between 6am and 9am and a further 31mm between 9am and noon.

He said the depression over the Bay of Bengal, combined with active monsoon winds, could bring similar rain until Tuesday.

High tide began at 10am on Monday, with the next low tide expected at 3:40pm, he added.

Pranab Kumar Sharma, deputy chief cleansing officer at Chattogram City Corporation, said the canals had no capacity left when the very heavy rain struck, since high tide had already filled them.

"Because of the high tide, no water from the city could drain out. That's what caused the waterlogging," he said, adding that water had since begun receding in Katalganj, Agrabad, Chawkbazar, Muradpur and Bahaddarhat, though Double Mooring Gate No. 2 area saw no waterlogging.

This marks the latest in a series of floods that have struck parts of the port city amid heavy rain between April and August this year.