Floodwaters have engulfed some of the low-lying areas in the capital as the overall flood situation worsened with rivers in central and northern Bangladesh causing continued erosion.

Over 25,000 people got stranded in Khilgaon, Shabujbagh and Mugda areas with the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre warning that the rivers around Dhaka might keep swelling until Sunday.

‘If rivers keep swelling for another two days the ward No 75 in Khilgaon would entirely go under water,’ said Dhaka South City Corporation ward councillor Akbar Hossain.

He said that flood brought immense sufferings to the people for eight of the 12 neighbourhoods in his ward and it also had the roads submerged.

People raised platforms inside their houses to avoid going to flood shelters but would be driven out of homes if floodwater continues to rise, said Akbar.

The River Balu overflowed its danger mark Friday while the Shitalakkhya was flowing above its danger level with a steady daily rise over the last several days.

Four of the five upazilas in Dhaka district were also affected with nearly 97,000 people affected by floods in Dohar, Nawabganj, Dhamrai and Keraniganj.

‘We have been warned that the situation would get worse for another round before Eid,’ said HM Salauddin Monzu.

Eid is eight days away and flood forecasters predict another round of rise in river water levels at that time.

The disaster management ministry said on Friday that close to four million people got affected in the flood that already spread to 30 districts.

The health emergency control room said that the number of death due to flood-related causes rose to 100 until Friday morning with seven deaths in the last 24 hours.

‘We have prepared 64 shelters for emergency evacuation and asked for dry food in view of the forecast, thinking that the flood situation might get worse,’ said Samiul Haque, upazila nirbahi officer, Dhamrai.

About 40 kilometres north-west of the capital city, in Dhamrai, around 1,000 people got stranded after the Dhaleswari and Bangshi rivers flooded two unions between Thursday and Friday.

A Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre bulletin predicted that the Brahmaputra, the Jamuna and the Padma rivers would keep swelling until Sunday.

The Padma continued to erode banks in Madaripur and was only about a hundred feet away from the government primary school, community clinic and union parishad at Bandarkhola of Shibchar.

Bandarkhola has been in national flood coverage, especially in electronic media, since a video showing a three-story high school building in the area being swept away by the Padma went viral on Thursday.

‘Sandbars get eroded fast when rivers rapidly rise and fall. We are trying to save other government establishments,’ said Asaduzzaman, upazila nirbahi officer of Shibchar.

Faridpur district relief and rehabilitation office said that 1,700 families were freshly marooned as flood worsened in the district between Thursday and Friday.

The FFWC said that the flood situation in the central districts such as Madaripur, Faridpur, Rajbari and Munshiganj might stabilise by Saturday.

It however predicted flooding to get worse in the northern districts such as Kurigram, Gaibandha, Natore, Bogura and Sirajganj on Saturday.

New Age correspondent in Sirajganj reported that about a dozen houses were devoured by the Jamuna between Thursday and Friday after the river swept away parts of an embankment.

Over 3.5 lakh people have been marooned in the district’s six upazilas so far since the beginning of the flood.

New Age correspondent in Lalmonirhat reported that 113 houses were swept away between Thursday and Friday in the eight flood-affected districts in the Rangpur division.

About 20,000 people got freshly stranded in floodwaters as flooding worsened in Kurigram, Gaibandha and Panchagarh during the same period.

New Age correspondent in Munshiganj reported that about 300 vehicles were stuck in a tailback at Shimulia as the Padma continued to flow with heavy current disrupting the ferry service between Shimulia and Kathalbari terminals.

In the coastal district of Barishal, rivers swelled rapidly, crossing danger marks at places, reported New Age correspondent in Barishal.

The rapidly rising rivers set off erosion in Hijla and Muladi upazilas in the district.

The FFWC said that rivers in the Meghna basin would continue to recede until Sunday.

Bangladesh Meteorological Department said that light to moderate rain might occur at most places in Dhaka, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barishal and Sylhet divisions until Saturday morning.

New Age correspondent in Kurigram reported that erosion caused an emergency evacuation at a government s