Downpour deluges Dhaka

Trackback URL

Download PDF

Torrential rain pounded the capital intermittently throughout the day yesterday as many parts of the city went under knee- to waist-deep water, throwing life and trade in a terrible mess.

Thousands of commuters were stuck in traffic jams for hours on the waterlogged streets. To make situation worse, a large number of vehicles broke down in rainwater that swamped almost every road including the one in front of the Chief Adviser’s Office in Tejgaon.

The Met Office recorded 134 millimetres of rain in Dhaka between 6:00am and 3:00pm, which was the highest in the country. The weather will remain unchanged for another day, said an official in Dhaka.

The rain pouring down in torrents hampered both domestic and international flight operations.

A Biman flight from London was forced to land at the Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong instead of the Zia International Airport (ZIA) in Dhaka, said an airport official. On domestic routes, a flight bound for Cox’s Bazar was delayed for several hours.

Another flight of the national flag carrier, which was scheduled to leave for Kuala Lumpur yesterday, has been cancelled for technical glitches as well as rough weather, added the official.

Heavy rain left things quite chaotic in the morning hours as people frantically looked for transport to get to work, and the condition aggravated in the afternoon when they were leaving workplaces.

Many had to wade knee-deep through water to reach their offices after the public transport system went out of gear. The CNG-run auto rickshaws, taxis and rickshaws that were on the roads braving the rain charged outrageously high fares.

Attendance at schools and colleges were low, and many educational institutions were closed earlier than usual. Bazaars and shopping malls emptied much before the sundown as the shopkeepers pulled down the shutters.

The worst affected were Mirpur, Kalyanpur, Basabo, Goran, Azimpur, Dhanmondi, Minto Road, Press Club, Motijheel, Fakirapool, Secretariat area, Maghbazar, Shantinagar, Kakrail, Mowchak, Bangladesh Rifles headquarters at Pilkhana, DND area, and the old parts of the city.

Vehicles slowed to a crawl and sometimes stood still on the major thoroughfares like Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Mirpur Road and Tongi Diversion Road.

An office goer told The Daily Star that it took him more than three hours to travel from Mirpur to Motijheel, a commute that usually takes 45-50 minutes.

Sarwar Hossain, a resident of Mohammadpur area, said, “It happens every time after a heavy downpour. It’s all because of a very poor drainage system.”

Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) sources said the drains can deal with only 10 millimetres (mm) of rain an hour, and waterlogging is inevitable in case of higher rainfall. The city has 150 square kilometres of storm drains, whereas it needs at least 260 sq kms to collect runoff from heavy shower.

Nearly 10 lakh people inside Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) embankment find themselves faced with floods during the monsoon every year. This year, they became marooned in their houses even before the rains set in.

Meanwhile, sufferings of the city dwellers were compounded by yet another round of price hike brought on by hard rain in the last couple of days. Visiting a number of kitchen markets yesterday this correspondent found that a number of vegetables and other essentials were selling at higher prices. At Karwan Bazar, the price of green chilli that was Tk 40-50 a kg in the morning shot up to Tk 70-80 per kg in the evening.

“Incessant rain in the last three days affected the vegetable prices as supply in markets remained poor,” said Abdul Latif Mia, president of wholesalers association at Karwan Bazar. If it continues the prices of vegetables and other essentials will rise further.

Leave a Reply