Flash floods during monsoon

With the start of the rainy season in June-July-August (Bangla  Asharh-Sravan) a typical  rural spectacle keeps unfolding in Bangladesh. The rainy season is also known in Bangladesh as monsoon. In the recent times, the scene keeps recurring. Although rains create local inundation and water-logging, the times of monsoon also stand out with flash floods, and, in years combined with traditional flooding. To speak generally, the onrush of water from upstream and the swelling of rivers and wide canals are the two distinctive features of monsoon.  During the annual floods in Bangladesh, the typical scenario can hardly overlook the sufferings of people caused by various disruptions.

They multiply in the areas situated near small and big rivers, and the people living also close to 'haors', remain accustomed to this yearly flooding. Big floods have long started becoming rarer in the country. People living in a vast rural area of the country now remain panicked over the onslaughts of flash floods. A common spectacle is there are numerous flood-prone rivers and 'haors', on the banks of which the villagers and the local authorities build roads and flood protection levees. Given the extreme force of water onrush from upstream, these levees get washed away resulting in the submersion of croplands. Low-lying rural dwellings also get affected. The sufferings that follow continue to plague people's lives as long as monsoon lasts. Of late, the newspaper photograph of a rural road being swept away by flash flood waters has reasons to make villagers worried.

The reality is the frequency of normal floods has thinned out in the recent years. In their place, flash floods fed by water from rivers upstream have become a seasonal phenomenon. In years, water onrush from these rivers in spate prompts the otherwise normal rivers to get swollen. In the recent years, large swathes of the north-eastern region of the country bear the brunt of flash floods. Apart from the flooding of croplands, these surges of water wash away roads and small establishments on the riversides.

The days of big flood appear to be over. Their place is being taken by the flash floods, which are unpredictable. Due their being beyond the ambit of flood forecasts, these floods remain a dread for the villagers living near the rivers and 'haors'. In 2022, the north-eastern region of the country was hit by severe flash floods. The districts in the region included Sylhet, Sunamganj and a few nearby districts. Those flash floods were partly caused by excessive rainfall in the Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya. The upstream rivers in the two Indian states normally flow into Bangladesh, gaining a ferocity characteristic of the hilly flows originating in the rivers. Thanks to the impact of the regional climatic phenomena, these apparently short-lived monsoon floods keep on increasing their intensity.

Given the forecasts about their recurrence in the upper region of Bangladesh, the areas' flood-affected people continue to brace for worse times, meaning more floods. Many also remain prepared for the disastrous floods, which in years originate from the rivers across the border.

A total of 70 million people in Bangladesh live in flood-prone areas today. They comprise about 1.5 million more than over two decades ago. Flash floods are different in nature, mostly confined to north-eastern region of the country. Many identify elements of worry in these localised floods. There could be fears over the waters of flash flood mixing with the regular ones, leading to great deluges.   Against this backdrop, flood experts underscore the need for increase in precautionary measures. Steps on disaster risk reduction ought to be given a prime backing in these action plans. At the same time, measures for early actions which would be effective in reducing the impact of flash flood warrant special focus. That early warnings hardly work in the case of flash floods remains a constraint in dealing with this recurrent natural disaster.   

shihabskr@ymail.com