Sylhet flooding improves, but fear of more rain lingers

As the rain has eased in the northeast, the water has receded from flooded areas of the city

The flooding in Sylhet city has improved as the rain has eased and water has receded from inundated parts of the city.

The Surma River was flowing below the danger level at the Sylhet City Point on Saturday morning.

However, the waters of the Surma and Kushiyara rivers are still flowing over the danger limit in some places.

Only two millimetres of rain was recorded from 6am on Friday to 6am on Saturday, said Shah Md Sajib Hossain, assistant meteorologist at the Bangladesh Meteorological Department’s Sylhet office.

"It may rain for another day or two," he said.

Deepak Ranjan Das, executive engineer of the Sylhet Water Development Board, said: “The flood situation in Sylhet is improving due to the reduction in rainfall. However, there is a risk of rain in Sylhet in the weather forecast. So we are still worried."

Sylhet City Corporation spokesman Sajlu Lashkar said that the water has retreated from most of the flooded wards of the city. But some wards are still waterlogged in some places.

People in the city’s shelters have begun to head home and only the people whose houses are still flooded are left, he said.

Necessities, including cooked and dry food, clean water, and medicines are being distributed among flood victims in the shelters.

According to the Sylhet WDB office, the Surma was flowing 35 cm above the danger line at Kanaighat Point at 9am on Saturday. On Friday, the water level at this point was 52 cm above the danger level.

At 9am on Saturday, the Surma was flowing at 10.74 cm at the Sylhet City Point, below the danger level. On Friday, the water was 9cm above the danger level at the same point.

At 9am on Saturday, the Kushiyara was flowing 15 cm above the danger level at Amalsheed Point. On Friday, the water was flowing over 36 cm above the level at this point.

However, the water level at the Fenchuganj Point on the Kushiyara River remains unchanged. On Friday, the water was flowing at 10.48 cm at this point. It was flowing at the same level at 9 am on Saturday.

In contrast, the water level of the Kushiyara at the Sherpur Point fell to 13 cm above the danger level at 9am on Saturday, compared to 18 cm above the level on Friday.

The water levels in the Lova, Sari, Dauki, Sari-Gwoain and Dhalai rivers also decreased on Saturday.

According to the flood report by the Sylhet district administration on Friday night, 120 unions - including 13 municipalities in the Sylhet City Corporation and four municipalities in the district - have been flooded. A total of 1,498 villages in the district were flooded.

A total of 25,275 people have taken shelter in 366 shelters in the district and some 978,223 people are marooned in the flooded areas.