S A Shofiee, Sylhet :
Heavy downpour coupled with water-logging caused severe traffic gridlock on most key streets in the Sylhet Monday mounting sufferings of commuters and disrupting trading activities.
Heavy rain along with a rush of cattle-laden trucks, home-goers and regular commuters paralysed traffic in the Sylhet. City dwellers suffered a lot as it took hours to reach a short distance of 20-25 minutes.
Different areas in Sylhet City area were inundated due to heavy rain.
main city streets were submerged by rainwater due to the poor drainage system, making traffic gridlock worse. City dwellers also experienced severe traffic jam on the first day of this month due to heavy rain.
Besides, it was very difficult for traffic department to manage traffic which took a turn for the worse due to stagnant water, potholed roads and construction works of flyovers.
However, thousands of people were caught in gridlock on Monday. They had to wait for hours to get on public buses as slow movement of vehicles caused a scarcity of transports.
Parents along with their schoolchildren, office-goers, street vendors, pedestrians, businessmen failed to reach their destinations while many missed their scheduled tasks.
Traffic officials were seen standing helpless on key roads. Even the lanes were also jammed by vehicles when commoners tried to avoid key streets.
The correspondent found that hundreds of offices including banks, insurance offices, courier service and travel agencies in Zindabazar were submerged by rainwater.
Downpour also disrupted cattle trading, although it is a peak hour for sale Three days ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
Rain caused ‘fear’ among cattle traders as they feel that such rainfall might hamper selling of sacrificial animals if it rains every day till Eid.
