BANGLADESH

Six million people stranded; Army called in to help as floods ravage parts of Bangladesh

Incessant rains have brought the six million people of Bangladesh to a stand-still. So much so that the Army had to be called in to assist in the relief and rescue operations. People have been marooned in their nearly inundated homes or were forced to take makeshift refuge elsewhere as the water levels in rivers in northeastern and northern regions continued to increase.

“Water now continued to surpass much above the danger lines in two of the country’s four major river basins. The situation appears to be nearly as bad as that of the 2004 flooding, a Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) spokesman said. The situation is so bad that many people were forced to take refuge on their rooftops amid gushing rising waters until rescue boats came into Sunamganj.

No official data was available on the death toll but unofficial reports suggest that the ongoing flood has killed at least 19 people in the country. The FFWC attributed the flooding to excessive rainfalls simultaneously in upstream Meghalaya and Bangladesh. The incessant downpours aggravated the miseries while the deluge severed the road links of northeastern Sunamganj district from the rest of the country and forced authorities to close a major international airport in neighbouring Sylhet after water submerged its runway.

Flood water engulfed several power stations, forcing authorities to shut down the facilities, subsequently affecting internet and mobile phone communications. Earlier, Bangladesh called in the Army to aid the civil administration in evacuating people or reaching succours to marooned people while the Navy and the Air Force units subsequently joined them in the northern Sylhet region.

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