Dhaka Saturday, May 18, 2024

Rain causes sufferings to people, disrupts ferry service
  • Staff Correspondent
  • 2021-06-05 23:06:59

People suffered immensely in the capital and many other areas in the country due to waterlogging in places and disruptions in river communications amid heavy rainfall on Saturday.

The capital experienced heavy rainfall in the early morning and the afternoon.

Meteorologist Md Omar Faruque told New Age that in Dhaka, 111 millimetres of rainfall was recorded between 6:00am and 3:00pm on Saturday.

The rainfall occurred due  to the spread of south-western monsoon wind, he said.

More heavy rainfall during the rainy season is likely to start on June 10 after the wind will spread across the country, he explained.

He also said that between 6:00am on Friday and 6:00am on Saturday, the highest amount of rainfall was recorded in Sylhet at 104mm.

Amid the rainfall, many Dhaka city roads and areas like Demra-Kazla road, Green road, Fakhirapool, Dhanmondi, Panthapath, Mirpur, Moghbazar, Rampura, Banasree, Khilgaon, Badda, Uttara, Dhaka Medical College area and different Old Town areas, including Bangshal, had gone under water for hours.

Waterlogging at the areas created huge traffic gridlocks while some vehicles went out of order at different areas for the same reason.

Dhaka south city mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said that residents suffered less due to waterlogging this time than previous years as the city corporation was working to solve the long pending problem.

He said that the situation would be better soon but it would take time to solve it completely.

Passengers alleged that drivers of CNG-run auto-rickshaws and rickshaws charged them extra by taking advantage of the situation.

Ferry movements on the Aricha-Kazirhat and Paturia-Daulatdia routes, meanwhile, were disrupted due to increasing water levels in the Padma and Jamuna rivers.

Our correspondent in Manikganj reported that portions of ferry pontoons and approach roads for loading and unloading ferries went under water on the Aricha-Kazirhat and Paturia-Daulatdia routes on the day.

Three ferries, out of total four, were carrying passengers with risks on the Aricha-Kazirhat route.

The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority on the day started shifting low water-level ferry pontoons to mid water level at Aricha for 9cm increase in the water level in the River Jamuna which was also disrupting ferry loading and unloading works and ferry movements.   Truck driver Motahar Hossain said that he came to Aricha at around 3:00am on Saturday but for problems at pontoons and the ferry crisis till 9:00am his truck could not cross the river.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Aricha terminal manager Abu Abdullah said that due to rise in the water level, ferry movements were disrupted.

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