Scores of people have been evacuated to shelters and half a million others have been without power since Tuesday morning as flash flood ravaged Sylhet, including the low-lying areas of Sylhet City Corporation.

The Surma and Kushiyara broke the historic records of water level at five points in Sylhet and Sunamganj, flowing at a level that the south-eastern rivers had never touched in 64 years since Bangladesh began keeping water level records.

Many Sylhet city dwellers woke up to water entering their houses on Tuesday morning and by noon their houses were in knee-deep water as the Surma, which split the city into North and South, sent a huge volume of water their way.

Floodwater immediately hit seven wards of Sylhet City Corporation and inundated a power sub-station that supplies electricity to about half a million of people living on the north side of the city, prompting authorities to open 16 shelters.
 
‘Flash flood never overtook so much of the city and caused a power outage of this scale,’ said Mamunur Rashid, a retired college teacher in his 60s.

At least 50 families took shelter in the flood shelters opened by the city corporation authorities until 3:00pm while another 500 people sought refuge at 199 flood shelters opened across the district, according to the district relief and rehabilitation office.

Vehicles ran through inundated roads in parts of the Sylhet city that witnessed incessant rain throughout Monday night.

Sylhet divisional commissioner Muhammad Mosharrof Hossain told New Age that his office was inundated by six to seven inches of floodwater.

‘It should not be difficult to imagine what the flood situation in rural areas is with the city sinking,’ said Mosharrof.

Officials at the Power Development Board faced a race against time to remove heavy machinery out of the Boroikandi power sub-station as the floodwater levels rose rapidly.

The power sub-station had to be closed down.

‘Power cannot be restored unless floodwater receded,’ said Shyamal Chandra Das, executive engineer, PDB, Sylhet.

At 9:00am on Tuesday, the Surma at Kanaighat in Sylhet flowed 143cm above the danger mark , according to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.
 
About 100 kilometres from Sylhet town, the Kushiyara flowed 138cm above the danger level at the same time, causing severe flooding.

The flooding in Sylhet occurred without any warning from the flood forecasters.

‘Floodwater may start receding from this afternoon,’ said Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan, executive engineer, FFWC.

The FFWC data showed that the water level of Surma at Kanaighat was measured at 14.18 metres, above the previously highest historical water level of 14.03 metres recorded at the point in April 2004.

At Sylhet, the Surma flowed at 11.09 metres, surpassing the previous water level record of 10.23 metres in April 2004.

At Sunamganj, the Surma flowed at 8.15 metres, breaking the previous water level record of 7.33 metres in May 2021.

The Kushiyara, on the other hand, flowed at Sheola at 13.5 metres, above the previous water level record of 13.35 metres struck in April 2004.

At Amalshid, the Kushiyara flowed at 16.78 metres, breaking the previous water level record of 15.66 metres struck in April 2016.

The previous water level records were the highest level to which the rivers rose on record since 1958, according to the FFWC.
 
The flash flood was inevitable given days of torrential rain upstream, especially across the

border since May 9, triggered by the cyclonic storm Asani.

Scores of villages were flooded upstream of Asam and Meghalaya and landslides were caused by the torrential rain that still persisted.

The FFWC daily bulletin issued on Tuesday reported severe and moderate flooding in Sunamganj, Sylhet, Netrakona and Habiganj.

Kishoreganj is also at risk of flooding.
The rivers in the north such as the Teesta, Dharla and Dudhkumar also kept rising, flowing very close to the danger limit amid forecasts of imminent flooding.

The Brahmaputra and Padma were rising too amid forecasts of continued swell through Friday.

Out of 109 river gauging stations, 80 reported swelling in the water levels over the 24-hour reporting cycle.

International weather forecasters warned that very heavy to extremely heavy rain is likely to continue in north-east India, representing partly the catchment of the Brahmaputra, Padma and Meghna rivers systems.
In the 24-hour until 9:00am Bangladesh time, India Meteorological Department said, Meghalaya received 759mm of above-normal rain, followed by 494mm of excess rain compared to what is normal at the time in Assam, 353mm of above-normal rain in Bihar, 311mm of above-normal rain in Sikkim, 290mm of above-normal rain in Manipur, 218mm of above rain in Arunachal Pradesh and 81mm of above-normal rain in West Bengal.