Water levels receding in several rivers in Sylhet

Water levels in several rivers in Sylhet have started to recede, bringing an improvement in flood situation in various areas that were affected by heavy rains and hill torrents for the past few days.

According to the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), as of 9:00 am on Friday, the water level of the Surma River is flowing 16 centimetres above the danger mark at Sylhet point and 65 centimetres above the danger mark at Kanaighat point.

On the other hand, the Kushiyara River is flowing 61 centimetres above the danger mark at Amalsid point, 13 centimetres at Sheola point, 1.2 centimetres at Fenchuganj point, and 24 centimetres at Sherpur point.

Except for a 0.1 cm rise in the Kushiyara River at Fenchuganj point, water levels have decreased by a few centimetres at different points since Thursday evening.

Shah Mohammad Sajib Hossain, Assistant Meteorologist at Sylhet Weather Office, told UNB that in the last 24 hours, Sylhet experienced 20mm of rain. There was no rainfall from yesterday noon until Friday morning.

Meanwhile, the local meteorological department has forecast moderate to heavy rains in some parts of Sylhet due to active monsoon conditions. The ongoing rainfall is expected to continue for the next five days, said a bulletin on Thursday afternoon.

In the past three weeks, Sylhet city has been inundated five times due to heavy rains, affecting hundreds of areas and causing untold suffering to the dwellers.

At least seven lakh people of Sylhet city and district have been inundated over the past few days, forcing the authorities concerned to open shelter centres to relocate them.

Earlier, on May 29, heavy rains and hill torrents from upstream caused flooding in Sylhet. The flood situation began to normalize from June 8.

However, continuous rains starting from the early hours of June 17 led to another flood in the district.

Prior to this, in May, floods were caused by hill torrents and rains from upstream in India.