Several hundred families turned homeless overnight in northern and central Bangladesh in the face of unceasing erosion amid the continued onrush of huge volumes of water from upstream on Saturday.

About one lakh people have sought refuge at government shelters and hundreds of thousands others on embankments after temporarily or permanently losing their homes while the rivers flowed above their danger marks at 27 places until Saturday.

Between Friday and Saturday, fresh croplands were submerged, fish farms were swept away and hundreds of kilometres of roads got damaged as flooding continued for a month in the country, affecting four million people in 31 districts.

‘It happened in the blink of any eye. The Jamuna devoured my home in just a matter of second,’ said Hasina Begum, a resident of Shimla, Sirajganj, where about 350 families lost their homes overnight.

Most of them could not make it with any of their belongings but Hasina was lucky to get her cows and goats to safety just before her house got lost into the roaring Jamuna.

Many families at risk of erosion were seen relocating their houses as the Jamuna flowed 90cm above the danger mark at Sirajganj until Saturday afternoon.

In upstream of Jamuna, the Brahmaputra, Teesta and Dharla had completely engulfed three upazilas in Kurigram — Chilmari, Roumari and Rajibpur.

The rivers left no trace of land to be seen anywhere in the upazilas and devoured 213 houses between Friday and Saturday, reported New Age correspondent in Lalmonirhat.

Except for a few families brave enough to stay on rooftops, over 3.5 lakh people have been driven out of their homes in the upazilas, many of them a month ago just after the flood began late June.

‘The flooding got so worse it made relief distribution almost impossible in the upazilas,’ said Kurigram deputy commissioner MD Rezaul Karim.

About six lakh people have taken shelter on embankments or at shelters in  eight districts of Rangur division where four villages were completely wiped off in Kurigram, Rangpur, Gaibandha and Lalmonirhat due to erosion in the first 10 days of the flood.

Over hundred houses were eroded in Rangpur, Lalmonirhat and Gaibandha between Friday and Saturday as the number of houses lost to rivers neared 14,000 in Rangpur division.

Over 19,000 fish farms were swept away in the division so far, according to divisional fisheries office.

At least 45 houses were swept away by the River Arialkhan at Panchkhola of Shibchar Saturday afternoon, said Madaripur district commissioner Rahima Khatun.

‘Erosion seems relentless this year,’ said Rahima, adding that 1,440 families were hit by erosion so far.

In Jalampur, showed the official daily disaster report, 14,000 houses were partially and completely damaged or washed away or eroded due to flooding that also damaged crops on 11,530 hectares and 194km road.

Water Development Board estimated that 200km of embankment was washed away by floods so far.

Riparian Bangladesh is no stranger to erosion but the way it takes place this year looked unprecedented to many, including the victims and water management experts.

AKM Saiful Islam, professor Institute of Water and Flood Management at BUET, said that erosion is river current washing along soil and sand and it happens when rivers flow at a huge velocity, mostly when they recede after a flood, but to some extent while they swell as well.

‘But rivers flowed with continuous heavy force this year because of ceaseless heavy rains upstream and inside Bangladesh,’ said Saiful.

He said that July already saw 33 per cent extra rain compared to the normal record for the month.

In May Bangladesh experienced 17 per cent extra rain than normal, according to Bangladesh Meteorological Department.

Meteorologists Abdul Mannan said that the continuous flow of water owed its source to ceaseless heavy rain because of a strange weather phenomenon.

‘There were no breaks in rain as no monsoon low had formed in July, when minimum of three were expected,’ said Mannan.

The Teesta already set new water level record on July 13, breaking 50 years of water level record.

The River Padma flowed with so much force that it carried heavy trees and other debris along it throughout July, reported BIWTC officials at Shimulia.

They measured the Padma flowed almost double the force it used to during normal times, hampering the ferry services between Shimulia and Kathalbari terminals.

The Padma flooded 153 villages in four upazilas in Munshiganj, reported New Age correspondent in the district.

Over five hundred vehicles were stranded in a tailback at Paturia as the Padma hampered the ferry service between Paturia and Daulatdia terminals.

New Age correspondent in Manikganj reporte