Staff Reporter :
Rains inundated city’s many parts leaving several areas waterlogged and triggering traffic chaos causing untold sufferings to the commuters on Monday.
The downpour led to waterlogging in parts of north and central Dhaka as well as western parts, leading to major traffic snarls in the afternoon peak hours.
Traffic crawled at a snail’s pace on major thoroughfares like Mirpur Road, Rokeya Swarani, Biswa Road, Airport Road and major northwest roads, delaying tens of thousands of commuters. Heavy traffic congestion and vehicles were stuck on roads for hours.
Commuters had to wait for hours to get on public buses as the slowest movement of the motorised vehicles caused a shortfall of the common transport.
Because of the gridlock many passengers got down from the buses and joined the common pedestrians, braving heavy rain amid a cloudburst. Ambulances carrying patients got stuck-up for hours on the major thoroughfares.
Besides, many vehicles went out of order in the middle of the waterlogged streets, triggering traffic congestion for hours together.
Many areas like Pallabi, Mirpur-10, Kazipara, Shewrapara, Shantinagar, Mouchak, Malibagh, Moghbazar, Agargaon, Karwan Bazar, Mohammadpur, Adabar, Dhanmondi, New Market, Badda, Green Road, Eskaton, Shahjahanpur, Rajarbagh, Shantinagar, Khilgaon, Mughda, Kamalapur, Arambagh, Bakshibazar, Bongshal, Demra and Jatrabari were inundated due to the heavy rainfall.
Apart from these, vehicles were seen moving slowly on the streets and commuters got stuck in long tailbacks for hours together in different areas, including Mirpur, Rokeya Swarani, Airport Road, Tejgaon, Gulshan, Badda and Baridhara.
“Rain will continue as monsoon remains still active over the country. It is not unusual. It is usual. And it can’t be said that there has been a change in the rainfall pattern,” said Ruhul Kuddus, an expert of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) on Monday.
Besides, he said the well-marked low over Telengana and adjoining area, now lies over East Maharastra and adjoining area as a low pressure.
“The axis of monsoon trough runs through Hariyana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, centre of the low, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal and thence northeastwards to Assam across central part of Bangladesh. One of its associated trough extends to Northeast Bay. Monsoon is fairly active over Bangladesh and weak to moderate over North Bay,” Ruhul Kuddus said.
According to BMD weather forecast, light to moderate rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at many places over Rajshahi, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Dhaka, Khulna, and Barisal divisions and at a few places over Chittagong and Sylhet divisions with moderately heavy falls at places over the country.
