Dwoha Chowdhury

“How much more can we take?”

Around 3:00am last Wednesday, one family was seen hard at work making 400 bags of relief to be taken for distribution the next morning.

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.

When the floods came this year, it was not just the rice in the paddy fields that were washed away, but also those stored at homesteads -- leaving many in a state of food insecurity.

Laki village of Tawakkul union in Sylhet’s Gowainghat upazila straddles a massive haor, silhouetting the emerald mountains of Cherrapunji.

All relief -- government or non-government -- is to be distributed in a coordinated way by committees formed in upazilas and unions of the Sylhet division.

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.

Shamim Ahmed, a young resident of Eklimnagar village in Sunamganj’s Chhatak upazila, has been stranded with no relief since the flood hit his home six days ago.

“Sir, please note down my name. I have five daughters and we have been going hungry for two days.”

Cry for relief is getting louder in Sylhet and Sunamganj as at least 40 lakh people remain stranded due to flood in the two districts and over 3 lakh of them have taken refuge at different shelters.

It was pitch-dark when I entered Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital on Saturday afternoon. The ground floor was submerged in knee-high floodwater. I climbed up the stairs to the first floor to find an elderly patient named Ana Miah lying on the floor.

The floods wreaking havoc in the country’s northern and north-eastern districts may worsen as water levels in already overflowing rivers could continue to rise over the next two days, according to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre. 

The flood situation in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts is becoming more severe with time as more than 40 lakh people remain marooned in different upazilas and towns while other areas are on verge of being inundated.

Residents of Chhatak, Bishwambarpur, Tahirpur and Dowarabazar upazilas of Sunamganj and Companiganj, Gowainghat upazilas of Sylhet, including the city corporation areas, are badly affected due to the ongoing heavy rain and flood.

People in Sylhet and Sunamganj have been experiencing a power outage since yesterday (June 16, 2022) following heavy floods caused by upstream water and heavy rainfall in the districts.

Worsening floods in Sunamganj and Sylhet districts have resulted in power outages, closure of many schools as they have been turned into makeshift flood shelters, and vast areas being inundated, with locals saying the flood is worse than the ones they experienced in 1998 and 2004.  

As all rivers except the Surma were reportedly flowing below the danger level yesterday afternoon, the authorities are now prioritising repairing the damaged roads and restoring communication.

With the fast receding of waters of the Surma and the Kushiyara rivers, the livelihood of flood-affected areas in Sylhet and Sunamganj is slowly getting back to normal.

As the Surma has been flowing below the danger level at some points in Sylhet city and Sunamganj town for two consecutive days yesterday, floodwaters are receding fast in many areas.

With rivers in Sylhet and Sunamganj still flowing above the danger level, fisheries and crop farms have been bearing the brunt.