The recent floods in Sherpur, a northern district of Bangladesh, have caused massive damage, with losses in agriculture and fisheries sectors estimated at around Tk 600 crore, according to official reports.
The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) also suffered damages amounting to nearly Tk 113 crore, while the Water Development Board has reported substantial, yet unquantified, losses.
As floodwaters began receding on Wednesday, the full scale of the devastation became clearer. Roads, homes, and croplands in several areas remain heavily damaged, severely hampering recovery efforts. Waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery, and skin infections have begun spreading, due to an acute shortage of clean drinking water in the affected communities.
However, Civil Surgeon Dr. Jasim Uddin assured that the situation is under control, with four medical teams, including Army personnel, doctors, and medical students, actively providing healthcare support.
A visit to Pichhlakuri village in Nakla upazila on Saturday revealed heartbreaking scenes of destruction. The village, home to around 100 families saw homes, belongings, and croplands swept away by the floods. The collapse of an embankment on the Bhogai River worsened the situation, submerging local temples and preventing the community from celebrating Durga Puja, their most important religious festival.
The village's one-and-a-half-kilometre road from Pichhlakuri Government Primary School to Tarakanda is now riddled with over 50 cracks, making it nearly impossible to deliver vital relief supplies to the area. Residents expressed frustration at the lack of government assistance, with many families enduring days of hunger.
Ahalla Rani Borman, a 50-year-old resident, shared her community's dire situation, saying, "We have no food, drinking water, or other essential supplies." She lamented that the little aid they had received consisted of a single packet of hotchpotch and half a kilogram of puffed rice.
Badal Chandra Borman, a farmer who lost his cucumber crop just days before harvest, estimated his losses between Tk 70,000 and Tk 80,000. "I borrowed Tk 10,000 to plant cucumbers, but the floodwaters washed everything away. I don't know how I will recover," he said, appealing for government support.
Sherpur's Deputy Commissioner Torofdar Mahmudur Rahman stated that relief efforts are ongoing, with a list of affected individuals submitted to the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation. The rehabilitation process will begin once the necessary resources are allocated. So far, 12 lives have been lost in the floods, which were triggered by heavy rainfall and water flowing in from upstream regions.
Despite these assurances, affected communities remain in desperate need of aid as they continue to battle the lingering impacts of the disaster.
