News Desk :
The country will witness a second wave of flood from July 11 which would affect some 23 districts of the country, says the state minister for disaster management.
“According to the forecast of Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC), water levels of Brahmaputra, Jamuna, Meghna, and Padma will start rising from July 10-11. During this time, 20-23 districts will be submerged,” State Minister Md Enamur Rahman said at a press conference from his office at the Secretariat on Thursday.
He said: “We gave direction to prepare a large number of shelters as a number of districts will be inundated this time. All would have to wear masks and maintain physical distance in the shelter centres.”
However he did not mention the number of shelter centres to be used. “Deputy commissioners will send updated information on how many shelter centre will be used and how many people would take shelter everyday.” “Two-hundred ton rice, 2,000 packed dried food, Tk2 lakh for food for children, Tk2 lakh for cattle fodder, and Tk2-Tk5 lakh will be sent to the deputy commissioners of each of the 23 districts,” he said.
A high level meeting was held on Thursday among the ministries concerned to tackle the upcoming calamity. Cabinet secretary was present at the meeting presided by the state minister.
Enamur said: “Some important decisions were made in the meeting, such as, Local Government Division [LGD] will ensure pure drinking water and sanitary latrine. School complexes would be used as shelter centres, if needed. Water resource ministry will be alert to protect dams.”
“The Agricultural Ministry will provide seeds, fertilizer, and seedlings for free of cost to the affected farmers after the water level decreases. Loans at a minimum interest rate will be ensured for the affected fish farmers,” he said.
The state minister said that there is no shortage of food and hence, “nothing to be worried about.”
“Armed forces division will take part in the relief and rescue, if necessary,” he added.
“The first wave of flood in the country was between June 26-July 7, when water levels of all major rivers had been flowing above the danger line. The loss and damage of the first wave of flood is yet to be calculated,” he further added.
Districts expected to witness flooding are Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Sylhet, Sunamganj, Netrokona, Kishoreganj, Bogra, Sirajganj, Jamalpur, Tangail, Rajbari, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Chandpur, Munshiganj, Faridpur, Manikganj, Rajshahi, Natore, and Naogaon.
However, the first wave of the flood inundated 12 districts, mostly in the northern part of the country.
The Meteorological Department said that in the next 72 hours, northern and north-eastern districts of Bangladesh may face heavy to very heavy rainfall. Indian states of Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya would face heavy to very heavy rainfall during the period.
Mentioning the weather forecast, Flood Forecast and Warning Centre (FFWC) said in their forecast: “For this reason, water level of all the rivers of the northern and north-eastern region may rise rapidly.”
