At least 1,000 families of different unions under Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha district have been marooned due to increasing the water level of Teesta River.
Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) office sources said the water level of the river rose by 37 cm in last 24 hours ending on Saturday morning at 9 am due to incessant rainfall and on rush of hilly waters from the up streams of India.
With the rise of water level the river was flowing 15 cm above the danger level at Kawnia point of Rangpur district this morning around 9am, the sources said.
As the river is flowing over the danger mark at Kawnia point, the river is flowing just below the danger level at Sundarganj point of the district.
As the water of the river entered Tarapur, Belka, Horipur, Chandipur, Sreepur, Kapasia unions of the upazila, the low-lying areas of the unions have been inundated creating untold sufferings to the flood victims. At this moment, boats and rafts have become the only means of movement from one village to other villages.
Executive engineer of BWDB here Hafizul Haque said if the water level of the river continued to rise the river would exceed the danger level in Gaibandha and create flood like situation in the upazila, he added.
Manju Miah, chairman of Kapasia union parishad of the upazila said with the rise of water level of the river erosion has been found at different spots along the right and left banks of the river.
Many people have taken shelter on nearby flood control embankments leaving ancestral homesteads and losing arable land of standing crops like chili and summer vegetables including jute, he added.
The marooned people of the unions are passing their days miserably for want of dry foods, he further added.
When contacted, UNO Tariqul Islam said the upazila administration is monitoring the situation closely and took preparation to provide relief materials like dry food, rice to the flood victims of the upazila to reduce their sufferings caused by seasonal flood, he concluded.
