DistantNews
Support us
🇧🇩 Bangladesh /Disasters & Emergencies

Three floods in two months, with no time to recover

From Daily Star · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Flooding hit at least 30 villages in Habiganj’s Kaliganj area three times in less than two months, damaging homes, roads, crops and fish farms.
  • The Kaliganj dam on the Khowai River breached on July 9 and again on August 23, while rising river water caused another flood on August 28.
  • Residents blamed slow repair work and alleged negligence for repeated losses, while authorities said the repairs had been delayed.

For residents of Kaliganj, the water keeps returning before they can repair what it destroyed. Hasna Begum of Purba Sultanshi village has watched her home flood three times in two months, after breaches in the Kaliganj dam on the Khowai River.

Every time the water recedes, I start repairing my house little by little. Before I can finish, the water comes to the door again.

· Hasna BegumA resident of Purba Sultanshi describing the repeated flooding and slow repairs.

“Every time the water recedes, I start repairing my house little by little. Before I can finish, the water comes to the door again,” she said, blaming the slow pace of repair work for her repeated losses.

Hasna is among residents of at least 30 villages affected three times in less than two months. Paddy and vegetable fields have gone under water, roads have been damaged and homes have flooded. Many residents are still trying to repair earlier damage or have not even managed to clean their houses.

Once, before the houses could be repaired, water entered the door again, and once again, before the damage could be overcome, a new disaster occurred.

· Md Saheb AliA Ward 5 member of Laskarpur Union Parishad describing the repeated damage.

Locals said the dam first breached on July 9 after heavy rain and landslides, flooding more than 50 villages. The Habiganj Water Development Board began repairs after the water receded, with a reported cost of Tk 82 lakh. But after about a month and a half, the work remained unfinished and the dam breached again on August 23. The area flooded for a third time on August 28 as the Khowai River rose.

Many are struggling to repair their homes, while others have not even been able to clean them. Like them, water has entered my door again.

· Sahan MiaA local resident describing the impact of the dam breaches.

Residents blamed negligence and irregularities, saying the slow repairs contributed to the second breach and warning that further flooding could follow whenever the river level rises. Local officials described the repeated inundation, while the authorities said the repair work had been delayed.

We are now helpless. This is the third time that the villages have been waterlogged due to the dam breach. This situation has arisen due to the slow pace of dam repair.

· Dulal DasA Charhamua resident blaming delayed dam repairs for the repeated flooding.
About this summary

Originally published by Daily Star in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog