Published : 27 Aug 2023, 09:53 PM
Updated : 27 Aug 2023, 09:53 PM
Rain has continued in Chattogram after heavy downpours overnight, inundating parts of the port city, causing a deadly landslide and delaying Higher Secondary Certificate exams.
The rain eased on Sunday afternoon - but did not stop.
Such showers may continue for several days due to the active monsoon currents, said meteorologist Mahmudul Alam.
Since the start of August, Chattogram has experienced persistent downpours and flash floods in the hills, causing flooding in the division.
The latest phase of rainfall began on Wednesday.
The Patenga Meteorological Office recorded 118.6 millimetres of rainfall in the 24 hours to Sunday noon.
The residents of Chandgaon, Baklia, Halishahar, Chawkbazar, Kapasgola, Muradpur, Agrabad CDA Residential Area and many other areas woke up in the morning to find the streets inundated.
Chattogram’s road links with Rangamati and Khagrachhari were hampered because of the flooding.
The fire service launched a search operation for a boy who fell into a wide drain.
DEADLY LANDSLIDE
A man and his infant daughter died in a landslide triggered by heavy rains at IW Colony near the Sholosohor Rail Station. The victims were identified as Md Sohel, 35, and his seven-month-old daughter, Bibi Jannat.
A 50-foot hill stands next to IW Colony, with retaining walls constructed near its base.
People from the lower-income brackets live at the foot of the hill in houses with thatched roofs, according to Abdullah Harun Pasha, deputy assistant director of the Chattogram Divisional Fire Service.
Due to intense rainfall, a landslide occurred on the hill in the morning, engulfing the house below. At least four members of the family were buried beneath the rubble.
Locals and emergency workers subsequently rescued them and took them to the Chattogram Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared Sohel and Jannat dead, said Sub Inspector Zakir Hossain of Panchlaish Police Station.
Parts of a hill in the Rajapukur Lane area also collapsed. No casualties were reported in the incident.
At several other places, wind gusts uprooted trees.
SEARCH FOR DROWNED CHILD
The Fire Service and Civil Defence are in search of a 2-year-old child who fell into a wide and swelled drain near his home at Rangipara of Halishahar.
Locals said the drainage near Halishahar was quite big and filled with waste, making it difficult to spot the child.
In September 2021, Seherin Mahbub Sadia, a student of International Islamic University, slipped into a drain while walking on the footpath at Agrabad’s Sheikh Mujib Road.
Her lifeless body was recovered after five hours of frantic efforts.
HSC TESTS DELAYED
The HSC exams at 29 centres in Chattogram began after an hour's delay because of waterlogging in parts of the city.
Exam Controller Narayan Chandra Nath said that while tests at other centres of the Chattogram Education Board began at 10 am, they were pushed back to 11 am at 27 centres in the metropolitan area and two more in Hathazari.
"In order to ensure that no student faces difficulties due to the rain, the exams were delayed by an hour. There is full attendance at Agrabad Mohila College centre. Student attendance is normal at Fatehabad School and Kapasgola School centres."
Abdur Rahim, the father of an examinee, said he struggled to take his son to the centre at Dampara from their home at Faridar Para.
“Wading through water on the street put more stress on the students,” he said.
Board officials said that the tests at all centres of the madrasa and technical education boards started on time.
The HSC and equivalent exams in the Chattogram Division had been postponed by 10 days for heavy rains and flooding.
Over 300,000 students registered for the exams overseen by the Board of Secondary and Intermediate Education, Chattogram, the Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board, and the Technical Education Board.
The tests under the eight other education boards got underway on Aug 17.
ROADS TO RANGAMATI, KHAGRACHHARI FLOODED
Waterlogging at Hathazari, Nandirhat and several other places hampered traffic to the hill tracts districts of Rangamati and Khagrachhari.
Only large vehicles were using the roads, but slowly, said Sub-Inspector Mozammel Haque of Raozan Police Station.
Mayor M Rezaul Karim cancelled the inauguration of the newly built Knowledge Park at Kalurghat in the city because of the rain.
