Staff Reporter :
Heavy rains paralysed the life across the country, including capital Dhaka, on Monday causing immense sufferings to the people.
Most of the roads in different parts of the capital went under ankle to knee-deep water due to the torrential rains, throwing the commuters and city dwellers into untold miseries.
The rains which occurred due to active monsoon also worsened the prevailing flood situations in the country’s northeastern regions, said Water Development Board and Bangladesh Meteorological Department officials.
The Met office said the rainfall is being caused by an active monsoon season and is likely to linger tomorrow (Wednesday) throughout the country.
“We can say that the intensity of the rain is likely to reduce in Dhaka from the day after tomorrow (Wednesday),” Md Rasheduzzaman, a Met officer, said.
“But until then, the heavy rainfall is likely to continue,” he said. He hoped that the rainfall throughout the country would show signs of easing down by Wednesday.
Dhaka city experienced 80mm rains, which has been the second highest record of rains after Swandip.
City dwellers, school and office goers faced serious troubles in the morning. Morning shifts in most of the schools did not have any classes as none could go out in heavy rains, said guardians and teachers
Commuters were also seen stranded on roads, struggling to find a vehicle or wade through knee-deep or ankle-deep waters on the roads holding an umbrella overhead.
The city’s worst affected areas include Azimpur, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi , Karwan Bazar, Sobhanbagh, Panthapath, Green Road, Fakirapool, Khilgaon, Mauchak, Malibagh, Moghbazar, Motijheel, Paltan, Kazipara, Sukrabad, Shantinagar.
Vehicles were seen stranded for hours in unprecedented traffic jams.
“I could not go to school for rainfalls. I also knew that there were hardly any students in the morning shift,” Shamsunnahar, a guardian, told The New Nation.
“It was very difficult to come out from my home for rain and there was also knee-deep water on the roads,” Rafiqul Islam, a banker, said.
Hundreds of commuters, especially office and school goers, faced huge troubles in reaching their destinations in the morning due to water logging and lake of transport caused by the incessant rains.
Many of them were seen wading through ankle to knee-deep water on the roads and by-lanes.
The situation turned worse in areas like Palashi-Azimpur intersection where knee deep water was logged for several hours on 11:00am on Sunday and commuters felt difficult to move across the areas.
Low-income people, especially the day labourers, suffered much as rain disrupted their normal pace of life.
Meanwhile, Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said that major rivers have continued to rise due to onrush of water from upstream India and heavy rainfall inside Bangladesh.
The Jamuna River at Serajganj point was flowing above the danger mark.
The Jamuna at Sariakandi point in Bogra, Bahadurabad in Jamalpur and Kazipur in Sirajganj remained warning level and likely to cross the danger marks soon, said FFWC’s officials.
