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15,000 families marooned in 8 upazilas of Lalmonirhat, Kurigram

More than 60,000 people of 15,000 families in eight upazilas of Lalmonirhat and Kurigram have been marooned by floodwaters in Teesta shoal.
Many families have left their houses and taken shelter on the roads and and water development board (WDB) dykes, reports our Lalmonirhat correspondent from the spot.
Lalmonirhat Railway Divisional Commercial Officer (DCO) Abdullah Al Mamun said floodwater submerged 500m of tracks near Teesta Railway Station, and due to this, train movement was disrupted from this morning.
However, rail movement resumed at slow speeds in this area after the water receded since this afternoon.
Many aman and vegetable fields in the flood-affected areas have gone under water.
WDB officials said the water level of the Teesta River has increased. Since 3:00pm today, Teesta was flowing 33cm above the the danger level at Kaunia Point in Rangpur, and 8cm below the danger level at Teesta Barrage point in the Doani area of ​​Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat.
The water of all the rivers including Brahmaputra, Dharla, Dudhkumar, Jinjiram was below the the danger level this afternoon.
Due to the swelling of Teesta river, 100 riverside villages and char areas along the banks in five upazilas of Lalmonirhat and three upazilas of Kurigram have been flooded.
Shamsul Alam, a farmer, said they took shelter on goverment roads with essential furniture and livestock as water submerged their house by 3-4ft.
Tahera Bewa, a flood-hit woman of Gatiashyam village of Rajarhat upazila in Kurigram, said her house 4-5ft under water and they left the house and took shelter on a dyke of Water Development Board.
Abdullah Al Mamun, deputy director of DAE in Kurigram, said aman will not be harmed much by the floodwater. On the contrary, aman will benefit due to the flooding. However, all other submerged vegetables will be damaged.
Shunil Kumar, executive engineer of Lalmonirhat WDB, said the water level of Teesta increased due to continuous rain and upstream water.
Water will start receding from the flood-affected areas within 24 hours if it does not rain and the heavy flow of water from upstream stops.
Lalmonirhat Deputy Commissioner HM Raqib Hayder said Tk 3 lakh cash and 90 metric tonnes of rice have been allocated for 10,000 flood hit families in Lalmonirhat.
Apart from this, Tk 5 lakh has been allocated for baby food and Tk 5 lakh for fodder.
Relief assistance is being distributed among the flood hit families from Sunday morning, he said.

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