Flash flood, waterlogging dampen Eid joy in Sylhet

With heavy rainfall in Sylhet and Sunamganj, alongside excessive rainfall in India's Meghalaya, flash floods and waterlogging marred the joy of Eid-ul-Azha for thousands of people in the two districts.

In the last 24 hours till this morning, it rained 365mm in Sunamganj town, 285mm in Sylhet city, 252mm in Gowainghat's Jaflong, and 252mm in Laurer Garh in Tahirpur, reports our Sylhet correspondent.

Meanwhile, 126mm of rainfall was recorded at Cherrapunji in India's Meghalaya in the last 24 hours till today morning.

Heavy rainfall in Sylhet city caused acute waterlogging in many areas including Shahjalal Upasahar, Dargah Mahalla, Kajalshah, Bagbari, and Pathantula.

Eid prayer at the Shahi Eidgah was attended by only a handful of people due to heavy rainfall, while many suffered to find dry places to sacrifice animals.

Jain Ahmed, a resident of Amberkhana area, said, "The Airport Road was flooded due to heavy rain and we could not go to the Dargah or the Eidgah for Eid prayers. We had to pray at a local mosque. We also struggled a lot to find a dry place to sacrifice our cattle."

In Sylhet, low-lying areas of all 13 upazilas are flooded, stranding around two lakh people.

The Surma was flowing 74cm above the danger level at Kanaighat at 3:00pm today, while the Kushiyara was flowing 73cm above at Fenchuganj and the Sari was flowing 2cm below the danger level at Sarighat in Jaintiapur.

Meanwhile, low-lying areas in Sunamganj are flooded as all major rivers are flowing above the danger level at different points.

In Sunamganj at 6:00am today, the Surma was flowing 16cm above at Sunamganj town area and 103cm at Chhatak.

The flood situation is the worst in Chhatak, Dowarabazar and Sunamganj Sadar upazila, while more upazilas are being flooded fast.

The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) today forecasted heavy rainfall in the next 24 to 72 hours in the Sylhet region and adjacent highlands in India.

The forecast also alerted that the Surma, Kushiyara, Sari, Gowain, Judukata, Jhalukhali, Manu and Khowai rivers will swell fast due to the heavy rainfall and flooding more low-lying areas in Sylhet, Sunamganj and Moulvibazar.