Sylhet Bureau :
Roads, ghats and paddy lands in the lower part of Sylhet have been submerged due to the sudden slope of the hill. Heavy rains over the last few days and floods on the slopes of the hills have caused misery in public life. In particular, the lower areas of Gowainghat, Companiganj, Jaintapur and Tahirpur and Shalla upazilas of Sunamganj district of Sylhet have been inundated.
According to local sources, the slope started descending from the Meghalaya hills of India on Monday morning. If the rains continue across the border, the situation is likely to worsen, officials said. By noon the vast area sank. Crops of land in these areas have been submerged. Roads are submerged. Water has also seeped into many houses.
The worst affected areas are Gowainghat in Sylhet, Companyganj and Tahirpur and Shalla upazilas in Sunamganj district.
Sylhet: Extreme levels of flood danger were announced in Gowainghat and Kompaniganj upazilas bordering Sylhet. The lower parts of these two upazilas have been flooded. Besides, many areas of Jaintapur upazila have also been submerged. Crops of land in these areas have been submerged. Roads are submerged. Water has also seeped into many houses.
The downpour started descending from the Meghalaya hills in India on Monday morning. By noon the vast area sank. If the rains continue across the border, the situation is likely to worsen, officials said. According to local sources, it has been raining in Meghalaya, India since Sunday night. The slope starts from the morning. The river protection dam has broken in the current of the slope. Gowainghat upazila has suffered the most.
Rustampur, East Jaflong, West Jaflong, Madhya Jaflong, Gowainghat Sadar and East Alirgaon and lower areas of West Alirgaon Union bordering Gowanghat Upazila were inundated around noon on Monday. Roads in these areas are flooded. Jaflong Bazar, Radhanagar Bazar, Londoni Bazar, Banglabazar and Natun Bazar, some of the hats in the upazila and some houses in these areas were also flooded. The Jaflong tea garden area on the Jaflong-Radhanagar-Goainghat road has been inundated by the river. As a result, the traffic of the tourist center Jaflong with the Upazila Sadar is closed. Meanwhile, the dam built by the Water Development Board of Asampara area of East Jaflong Union of the upazila to protect the river bank has broken due to strong current of Duki river. Boro paddy of these upazilas has been submerged in water.
According to the Uplo Agriculture Officer, 5 to 600 hectares of water has been submerged in the slope. However, as the locals, the amount of land to be submerged is more.
Awal Mia, a farmer from Radhanagar area, said that about 200 hectares of land in our area has been submerged due to the landslide. Most of the land in the upazila was supposed to be submerged due to the current of the slope.
However, Gowainghat Upazila Agriculture Officer. Raihan Parvez says that so far we have received reports of 5 to 600 hectares of boro paddy being submerged. However, if the flood situation improves in a couple of days, there will not be much damage to the crop.
Gowainghat Upazila Executive Officer. Tahmilur Rahman said the low-lying areas of the upazila have been inundated due to heavy rains and landslides. I have received news that several roads have been submerged along with crop lands. We have already visited some of the flood affected areas and are trying to keep in touch with all the unions.
He said the issue of flood damage has been raised and the higher authorities have been informed for necessary assistance. Land crops of different areas of Companiganj upazila have also been submerged. As of Monday afternoon, Islampur East, Telikhal, Ichakals and lower areas of South Ronikhai Union of the upazila were submerged. According to local sources, water has also entered some roads and some houses in these areas. According to locals, water has infiltrated about 500 hectares of land in these four unions.
Chairman of Islampur East Union Parishad Alamgir Alam said the dam in Chanpur village broke and submerged Rangpur, Shimultala, Noagaon, Mostafanagar, Dhalarpar and surrounding areas. Many houses have also been flooded.
Half-ripe and raw paddy of these areas has been submerged in water.
According to the Kompaniganj Upazila Agriculture Office, the paddy in the low lying areas of the upazila has been submerged. However, the Agriculture Officer’s Office could not confirm the amount of land submerged.
Companiganj UNO Lusikanta Hajong said water has not yet entered the haor. However, some low-lying areas have sunk.
Water has started entering the lower reaches of Jaintapur Upazila since Monday afternoon, said Upazila Nirbahi Officer Al Bashirul Islam.
“It was good until yesterday,” he said. The river water started rising from this morning. Water has started entering the lowlands from noon. However, no information has been received as to which area has been flooded or how much damage has been done.
District Agriculture Officer Mohammad Kazi Mojibur Rahman said that boro paddy has been cultivated in 64,000 hectares of land in Sylhet district this time. But not too much. I have heard that it has sunk like two hundred hectares. However, the full account has not been received yet.
He said the damage would increase if the rains and landslides continued in the hills.
Sunamganj: Due to the pressure of upstream water, water is entering the haor by breaking the Nazarkhali embankment at Tanguar Haor, Ramsar site of Tahirpur upazila of Sunamganj. As a result, about 5,000 acres of fossil paddy land of that haor has been submerged under water. After a week of trying to protect the dam at the voluntary home of the local farmers of the haor where the water level of Pathlai River has risen due to the hostile weather of the last few days, the entrance to Tanguar Haor broke and the water entered Tanguar Haor at 11 am today.
Mohammad Zaman, a plant protection officer at the Tahirpur Upazila Agriculture Office, said that the embankments of several haors in the vicinity of Tanguar Haor are under threat as the water level in Tanguar Haor rises effortlessly as the river rises due to the collapse of Nazarkhali embankment.
Meanwhile, Tahirpur Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md. Raihan Kabir inspected the Nazarkhali embankment immediately after receiving the news that water had entered the haor by breaking the Nazarkhali embankment. He said that it is basically the entrance to Tanguar Haor, it is not a dam of Water Development Board. The dam was earlier built by the Tanguar Haor Development Committee in response to demands from local farmers. But this time, through their demand, the dam was constructed by the local farmers through PIC with a small allocation from the Upazila Parishad and Water Development Board. However, the river water is entering the haor as the dam has broken. There will be no damage to the surrounding embankment due to infiltration of water in Tanguar Haor.
The dam broke at Baghar Haor in Shalla upazila of Sunamganj and water entered the haor. Thousands of acres of paddy land in Haor are being submerged. Thousands of acres of arable land are disappearing in front of the eyes of the farmers. No project has been given in this dam as it is out of the scope of Water Development Board. The locals complained that Paubo did not take any action even though they demanded the project in Baghar Haor from the very beginning.
According to local sources, there are about one thousand acres of land in Baghar dam area. From the very beginning, there was a demand for construction of Haor Raksha Dam in this area. But nothing worked. Locals allege that the government is squandering money on projects in unnecessary places instead of projects in such important places.
Meanwhile, the Water Development Board (Paubo) is claiming that the project has been given according to the measurement of the survey team. As a result, the dam of this haor is out of reach.
Abdul Kaiyurm, Assistant Engineer (SO) of Shalla Water Development Board, said, “Our Haor Raksha Dam has not been demolished yet. Wherever water enters Baghar Haor it is out of our list. And we are constantly monitoring the dams that are under our control. However, there is no risky dam in Shalla.
Saeed Ahmad Chowdhury, senior meteorologist of Sylhet Meteorological Office, said the chances of rain in the Sylhet region are less than before. However, even though the rainfall is less in the upper reaches now, it is likely to increase. And this may increase the water in the lower part of Sylhet. There is a possibility that the lower part of Sylhet will be flooded.
