The Bangladesh Meteorological Department has issued a warning for a nor’wester over six divisions between Monday night and this morning.
The message, issued at 9:00pm Monday, read that rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary west or northwesterly kalboishakhi squalls at an hourly speed of 60–80 kilometres was expected to hit Rangpur, Rajshahi, Mymensingh, Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet divisions during the next 12 hours.
Same time it also issued an inland river port warning of Signal Number 2 for districts—Rangpur, Dinajpur, Rajshahi, Pabna, Bogura, Kushtia, Jashore, Khulna, Faridpur and Madaripur—and Signal Number 1 for other parts of the country.
The flood situation in the low-lying areas adjacent to the haors in Habiganj and Netrakona districts remained unchanged with several rivers continuing to flow above the pre-monsoon danger level amid ongoing rainfall, according to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre on Monday.
The centre also issued flood warning for the low-lying areas in Moulvibazar, Sylhet and Sunamganj districts over a 72-hour period starting at 9:00am on the day.
Farmers at the flood-affected districts also continued to face huge crop losses due to the early wave of flash floods triggered by upstream hill runoff and days of relentless rain.
Seven rivers—the Naljur River at Jagannathpur point in Sunamganj, the Baulai River at Khaliajuri point, the Bhugai-Kangsha River at Jariajanjail point, the Someshwari River at Kalmakanda point, the Magra River at Netrakona and Atpara points, the Kalni-Kushiyara River at Ajmiriganj point, and the Sutang River at Sutang Railway Bridge point in Habiganj—were flowing above the pre-monsoon danger level on the day.
The FFWC in its Monday bulletin also said that in the next three days, water levels of the Bhugai-Kangsha and Someshwari rivers in Netrakona district and that of the Dhanu-Baulai rivers in Netrakona and Kishoreganj districts were likely to remain stable, while flooding conditions in the haor-adjacent low-lying areas of the Bhugai-Kangsha basin in Netrakona might persist.
The early wave of flash floods has inundated vast stretches of haor land at Chhatak upazila of Sunamganj, leaving thousands of farmers lose ripened boro paddy, reported Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.
Villages under Chormohalla union, including Buraigiri, Boroghatti, Bagachhara, Gojahati, Baruka and Ura beel, were largely underwater.
‘I watched my paddy go under water right before my eyes,’ said Abdus Sobhan, a farmer from Buraigiri, lamenting, ‘Now we won’t have enough rice to feed the family.’
Similar scenes have been reported from multiple haors across unions, including Kalaruka, Uttar Khurma, and Dakshin Khurma, and other areas.
Official estimates from the Chhatak upazila agriculture office state that 14,996 hectares were cultivated with boro this season.
As of May 1, officials said 2,513 hectares in haor areas and 3,833 hectares in non-haor areas had already been harvested.
Farmers on the ground contest these figures, alleging that the official data does not reflect the scale of devastation.
The BSS also reported that farmers of southern region in Khulna division were facing growing concern over the fate of their Boro crops due to rainfall.
Farmers were also struggling to dry the paddy under cloudy sky, causing much of the crop to rot.
On May 3, the Department of Agriculture data showed that total 3,03,591 hectares of land was cultivated of which 2,66,993 hectares had boro paddy.
Of the land, 3,307 hectares were submerged, while crops, including boro paddy, were harvested from 1,47,652 hectares, according to the date.
