Overnight downpour deluges low-lying areas of city

Routes through Dhaka's business-district Motijheel sank under knee-deep water early Wednesday as overnight rain deluged many low-lying areas in the capital and other parts of the country.       

Flood situation in eastern and northern-most districts also aggravated following medium-to heavy rainfall since Tuesday night until morning hours Wednesday, reports reaching FE newsroom said.   

Staff reporters and witnesses said logging coupled with traffic jam in different parts of the capital city Wednesday put commuters and working-class people in particular into abject sufferings.

Important thoroughfares through Motijheel, Dainik Bangla, Gulistan, Farmgate, Panthapath, Dhanmondi, Mirpur, Kamalapur, and Demra got submerged following incessant rain on the previous night.

Office-goers and students, in particular, got into trouble for rain-driven road flooding and traffic congestion in a number of the city areas, including Khilgaon, Malibag, Rampura, Motijheel and Gulistan.

"Vehicular movement was disrupted in the knee-deep waters, creating nagging traffic jams for hours in some areas.

"Vehicles were seen moving slowly with their wheels submerged in the stagnant rainwater after a long wait in the congestion," says a spot account of the scenes.

Dilatory road-digging for installation of utility services and construction of flyovers added extra pain in Rampura, Mouchak and Badda areas, to name a few.

Many commuters were found walking their distances to reach destinations in time as the vehicles remained at a standstill. They were seen wading through dirty waters, while many waited inside the vehicles being helpless.

Tucy Bose, a private official, reached office at Panthapath late by an hour. She said she was stuck at Motijheel for nearly an hour due to traffic jam.

"I was stuck on the bus for an hour in Motijheel area, but couldn't get down as water ruled everywhere," she said.

Bose was making objection against the city authorities for failing to manage the water-logging problem, which occurs more often than not even after a little amount of rain.

Some 28-millimetre rain was recorded during 24 hours since 6.00am Tuesday, an official of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), Abdul Barik, told the FE.

Replying to a query, he said: "The said amount of rainfall for a 24-hour period is not unusual considering the rainy season."

He forecast similar amount of monsoon rain may continue Thursday (today).

According to met data, the highest amount of precipitation was recorded 111 millimeters in Sitakunda in 24 hours beginning Tuesday morning.