72,000 hectares of farmland flooded in 21 districts

Aush, transplanted Aman, broadcast Aman, jute, vegetable, betel, and watermelon crops, as well as orchards, have been submerged in 21 districts

Rain in Dhaka and the rest of the country over the past few days has inundated crops on 72,076 hectares of land in 21 districts.

The Ministry of Agriculture, citing the Department of Agricultural Extension, released the information in a press release on Thursday night.

It said that due to the active southwest monsoon, the low-pressure system created in the northwest Bay of Bengal, and heavy to very heavy rainfall in the coastal areas of the country, temporary waterlogging has occurred in some places in the Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna and Barishal regions.

Aush, transplanted Aman, broadcast Aman, jute, vegetable, betel, and watermelon crops, as well as orchards, have been submerged by water.

Farmland has flooded in the Cumilla, Chandpur, Brahmanbaria, Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Noakhali, Feni, Lakshmipur, Khagrachhari, Pabna, Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Narail, Barishal, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Patuakhali, Barguna, Bhola and Shariatpur.

This includes 44,662 hectares of Aush, 14,393 hectares of transplanted Aman, 135 hectares of jute, 9,673 hectares of vegetables, 114 hectares of bananas, 293 hectares of papaya, 387 hectares of betel, 297 hectares of broadcast Aman, 104 hectares of chilli, and 281 hectares of summer watermelons.

The Ministry of Agriculture said that in Cumilla alone, 11,590 hectares of various crops (Aush, Aman, vegetables, chillies, sugarcane) have been inundated.

In the Noakhali district, 7,806 hectares of various crops (Aush, Aman, vegetables, chillies, watermelon) have been submerged.

Feni saw 1,655 hectares of farmland (Aush, Aman, vegetables, and chillies) flooded.

However, the agriculture ministry says that, as rainfall has decreased since Thursday, the flooding of farmland has started to ease.

Bangladesh has seen rain across the country for several days due to a low-pressure system and the active southwest monsoon.

Lakshmipur’s Ramgati saw the most rain across the country in the past 24 hours, recording 85mm.

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) also reported 80mm of rain in Gopalganj, 73mm in Rajshahi’s Baghabari, and 71mm in Aricha.

Meteorologist Tariful Newaz Kabir, predicting a gradual decrease in rain from Friday, said that the low present in Gangetic West Bengal and adjacent areas for the past few days has weakened and merged with the axis of the monsoon. Due to this, there was less rain on Thursday, which is expected to decrease further on Friday.

However, light to moderate rain or thundershowers, accompanied by temporary gusty winds, are likely to occur in many places in the Dhaka, Khulna, Barishal, Chattogram and Sylhet divisions and some places in Rangpur, Rajshahi and Mymensingh divisions on Friday.

Meanwhile, the BMD has ordered the country’s four maritime ports to lower their cautionary signals as there is no possibility of gale force winds in the north Bay of Bengal and coastal areas.