Flood in Chattogram Division: Thousands stranded in 3 dists

Although floodwaters started receding from some areas yesterday, thousands of people were still stranded in Chattogram, Bandarban and Cox's Bazar.

Road communications between Cox's Bazar, Bandarban and the rest of the country remained snapped till last evening as many parts of highways had been under water.

Crops on vast tracts of land have been damaged and fishes from ponds have been washed away. Many people have moved to flood shelters with their cattle.

Six out of Bandarban's seven upazilas have been without power for the last five days. People in the hill district are suffering from an acute shortage of drinking water.

Floodwaters have submerged ground floors of many buildings in Bandarban town.

In Cox's Bazar, at least four people died in floods in 24 hours preceding 4:00pm yesterday, raising the total flood deaths to nine since Tuesday, according to data from the district administration.

Four others, including three children, went missing after a boat capsized in floodwaters in Chattogram's Satkania upazila Tuesday evening.

Visiting different flood-hit areas in Chattogram yesterday, The Daily Star found that people were suffering immensely.

Firoz Ahmed, manager of Sundarban Courier Service in Keranirhat area of Chattogram's Satkania upazila, said parts of Chattogram-Cox's Bazar highway and Keranirhat-Bandarban road have gone under knee-to-waist deep water.

Suman Singha, executive engineer of Roads and Highways Department in Chattogram, said Chattogram-Cox's Bazar highway was still under water in Hasimpur of Chandanaish, Keranirhat of Satkania and Chakaria.

Several hundred vehicles were stranded on Chattogram-Cox's Bazar highway in Chandanaish and Satkania yesterday.

Ashraf Ullah, a lorry driver who was stuck in Satbaria area of Chandanaish, said, "I have to go to Chakaria in Cox's Bazar. But I am now stuck here. I have to stay at the wheel round the clock. My helper had to walk around three kilometres to buy dry food from a shop."

Floodwaters have submerged many areas in Chandanaish.

Jebo Hossain, who took shelter at Satbaria Government Primary School in Chandanaish, said they had been staying at the school for two days.

"We are now living on dry food. We cannot even contact our relatives as our mobile phones ran out of battery power. As the tube-wells have gone under water, we have to walk several kilometres to fetch drinking water," said Ovi Nath, a resident of Chandanaish.

Floodwaters have receded from the streets of the port city, but many of those have been damaged.

Officials of Water Development Board (WDB) think torrential rains and rise in the water level in the Bay of Bengal under the influence of full moon during high tide worsened the flood situations in Chattogram, Bandarban and Cox's Bazar.

Floodwaters usually recede from the region, including Chandanaish, Satkania, Lohagara of Chattogram, and Chakaria, Pekua of Cox's Bazar, through the Sangu, Matamuhuri and Dalu rivers, said Tanjir Saif Ahmed, executive engineer of WDB in Cox's Bazar.

But floodwaters did not recede this time as the water level in the Bay rose. As a result, flooding wreaked havoc across this region, which is the worst flood since 1996, he added.

[Arun Bikash Dey, Mohammad Suman, FM Mizanur Rahaman, Sifayet Ullah, Mokammel Shuvo and Mong Sing Hai Marma contributed to this report.]