Mintu Deshwara

Noorjahan Begum and her three children have been living in a flood shelter for almost a month since their house on Hakaluki Haor in Moulvibazar district was battered by high tides.

Tea farmers in Moulvibazar might not get the expected yield this year as they are struggling to irrigate their plantations in the face of inadequate rainfall, which has also given rise to a red spider mite infestation that is eating away at the crops.

The construction of Rajapur bridge over the Manu river on the Kulaura-Prithimpasha-Hazipur-Sharifpur road in Moulvibazar was completed a year ago. But the connecting road is yet to be completed. Therefore, locals have installed a steep bamboo ladder on both sides of the bridge, risking their lives just to get across.

Disregarding a High Court directive and  environmental laws, illegal hill cutting continues unabated in Dinarpur of Habiganj due to lax monitoring of the authorities concerned.

Hills in Holichhara tea garden in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura are allegedly being cut to construct a road, without the approval of Department of Environment (DoE).

A two-decimal land at the bottom of a hill.

For as far as the eye can see, there’s floodwater. Educational institutions have been closed for days. In such a situation, Deepak Ranjan Das, headteacher of Daserbazar High School, decided to set up a shelter in the school in Moulvibazar’s Barlekha upazila.

Standing under the rain with an umbrella, 60-year-old Nirendra Kumar Das, a resident of Gagra village in Hakaluki Haor area, waited for customers. Hours went by, and yet, not a single buyer came in sight, possibly because the market was submerged.

For around a month now, all four districts in the Sylhet division have been enduring floods with the water receding slowly from many areas and thousands left to suffer.

Humans weren’t the only casualties of the floods in Sylhet, especially in the haor area, as a significant number of wild animals died too.

Not only did the Sylhet flood cause devastating harm to the lives of residents there, it also put a massive dent in the tourism business of Moulvibazar’s Sreemangal upazila, but not in the way one might assume.

Children and teenagers are driving battery-powered auto-rickshaws in Kulaura of Moulvibazar due to a lack of surveillance from the authorities.

When one of her cattle died contracting hoof-and-mouth disease some time back, Salma Akther had grown deeply worried over the future of her remaining herd of 19 animals.

Jasim Uddin, a resident of Hakaluki Haor, use to work as a mason before the floods drowned his house. But at present, after losing everything, he rents a boat for Tk 8,000 per month from Bhukshimoil area and rows day and night to earn his bread.

The yard and kitchen of Aparna Rani Das’s house in Gagra village, on the edge of Hakaluki haor in Moulvibazar’s Barlekha upazila, is submerged in knee-deep water since June 17.

Cattle farmers, particularly those from flood-hit areas, are in fear of incurring losses from the sale of sacrificial animals ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha due to flooding, rising prices of cattle feed and a lower number of customers.

“How much more can we take?”

The flood situation in the Sylhet division has left a destructive effect on the lives of its residents. Women and children are the worst victims as of yet, with severe health complications, especially, malnutrition.

Rearing cattle has always been easy for the people of haor areas in the country’s northeastern region due to ample supply of natural fodder like grass.

Thousands of people in 93 unions -- one-third of the total 336 in Sylhet division -- suffer immensely as no humanitarian aid could reach them as yet.