River overflows, dykes collapse in 3 Districts
Thousands marooned, crops on vast areas flooded
Rain-fed Atrai River overflowed banks yesterday submerging aman and aus plants on 500 hectares in Chalan Beel area in Natore, right, fresh areas in Barhatta upazila of Netrakona district went under water as the dyke in Raipur union of the upazila collapsed on Saturday. Photo: STAR
Thousands of people were marooned and crops on vast tracts of land flooded as river overflowed in Natore and dykes collapsed in Netrakona and Gaibandha districts yesterday and the day before. Aman and aus plants on around 500 hectares of land in Natore were submerged as heavy rain during the last five days triggered flash flood in Chalon Beel area of Singra upazila, reports our correspondent. According to Fazlar Rahman Fonu, chairman of Kalom union parishad under Singra upazila the worst affected areas are Sosiagandhi, Nurpur, Islampur, Kalinagar and Bijoynagar. The Atrai River has overflowed in Mollanara area and locals are trying to protect their crops by putting chunks of earth on the riverbank, the UP chairman said. Aman was cultivated on 56,000 hectares of land in the district this season, said an official at Natore Department of Agriculture Extension. He, however, could not say clearly about the extent of damage caused by the recent flood. "We may not be able to harvest the aman and aus this season as the crop fields have gone under water. We demand re-excavation of the rivers in Chalon Beel area to save our crops from flooding," said Mahabub Hossain, a farmer of Nurpur village. Many farmers are cutting down submerged aman plants to use those as fodder, locals said. Flood situation in Netrakona deteriorated further as 'Jibon Rakkha' embankment collapsed Saturday night, reports our correspondent. According to sources in Netrakona Water Development Board (WDB), the dyke in Raipur union of Barhatta upazila collapsed due to rise in water level of the Kongsha River. The newly affected areas where thousands more were marooned are Challish Kahonia, Saniapara, Chorpara, Bonuapara, Kornapara and Batrapara in Barhatta upazila, Kaliara, Gabragati, Chandrapur, Polashdanga, Kumarpur, Patni, Bashati, Nariapara, Rajapur, Dhamrihala, Kornakhola,Dudkura, Horidaspur, Borikathuri, Satia and Narayanpur in Netrakona Sadar upazila and a vast tract of Pogla union in Kalmakanda upazila. Flood waters damaged at least 30 thousand hectares of newly planted aman crops, several hundred hectares of vegetable fields in the affected areas. Someshwary, Kongsha, Mogra and Dhanu--the four major rivers of the district are now flowing over danger marks, WDB sources said. In Gaibandha, at least 40 villages in two unions under Sundarganj upazila have been inundated due to breach in Teesta flood control dyke on Saturday. Teesta flowing above danger mark yesterday washed away 1,200 metre stretch of the dyke and flooded the seedbeds and recently transplanted aman on a vast tract of land, WDB officials said. At least 30,000 people have been marooned in different char lands in the Teesta basin. Local people with the help of NGOs have started to rescue the affected families and cattlehead from remote areas, said Abdus Samand Khoka, chairman of Tarapur union. The aman seedbeds and the transplanted aman seedlings will be perished if the water remains stagnant for five to seven days, he added.
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