9.5 lakh people marooned in Sylhet

More than 9.5 lakh people in Sylhet division remained marooned still on Friday due to unabated onrush of water from upstream Meghalaya and Assam states of India.

Currently, the water is flowing over the danger line at 6 points of Sylhet's Surma and Kushiara rivers. Only at the Goainghat point of Shari-Goyain River the water is flowing below the danger level.

According to the information from the district administration, 9.57 lakh people from 13 upazilas including 23 wards of Sylhet city corporation are still marooned. Around 26,400 hectares of paddy and seed beds and vegetable fields of the entire Sylhet division are submerged. 3,000 people took shelter in several flood shelters in the district. Flood water spread in Sylhet Sadar, Biswanath, Osmaninagar, Companyganj, Fenchuganj, Dakshin Surma, Balaganj, Jaintapur, Goainghat, Kanaighat, Jokiganj, Biyanibazar and Golapganj in the district.

Besides, the flood water enters into 467 schools and madrasa of the district.

Sylhet met office assistant director Sajib Hossain said Sylhet received only 20 millimeters of rain in 24 hours on Thursday. There was no rain between 6am and 9am on Friday.

Deepak Ranjan Das, executive engineer of Water Development Board (WDB) Sylhet, said that the improvement of the flood situation in Sylhet depends a lot on the rains of Cherrapunji in India. Because, the flood situation worsens in Sylhet due to the rain in hill slopes of India.

Md Matiuzzaman, Sylhet Region Additional Director of Agricultural Extension Directorate, said that the damage to the agricultural sector has not been determined yet. That can be said after the improvement of flood situations.