Land remains submerged as riverbeds go higher

Tapos Kanti Das, Khulna. NewAge, May 30, 2009

Areas in the south and south-west lying lower than the sea-level may remain inundated for long, compounding the sufferings of the people, said experts and the organizations working with water related issues.
   

People affected by cyclone Aila take refuse on the ground floor of a government shelter centre intruded by flood water at Shyamnagar in Satkhira on Friday. Photo: Focusbangla/NewAge 

The areas were submerged as tidal surges whipped up as high as 13 feet by cyclone Aila, which crossed over Sagar Island into India Monday evening, fell over the land crossing the embankment.
   

Koyra, Dacope and part of Paikgachha and Dumuria in Khulna, Shyamnagar and part of Assassuni and Tala in Satkhira and part of Sarankhola, Morrelganj and Mongla in Bagerhat were worst affected. Many stretches of embankments also breached in the places, said sources in administration.
   

Sources in the Water Development Board said 48.965km stretch of embankment had been fully destroyed and 218.15km of stretch had been damaged partially in Khulna.


Water that collected during the tidal surges cannot recede as the Kapatakshi, Marichchap and Bhadra rivers, which have their beds silted over the years, were flowing above the low-lying areas in places such as Shyamnagar, Tala and Assassuni in Satkhira, Paikgachha, Koyra and Dumuria in Khulna, the Paani Committee presidentm ABM Shafiqul Islam, said.
   

He said the riverbeds are higher by one to three feet than low-lying areas in places and in other places the river bends are on a level with the low-lying areas. He said it was time the rivers were dredged lower than the low-lying areas.
   

Khulna University environmental science professor Md Salequzzaman said water had entered even the villages which had never been submerged in such cases in about 100 years.
   

He said if proper measures were not taken to flush out the water collected on the land lower than the riverbeds, a large area in the southwest, such as Bhabadaha Bil in Jessore, may remain dry permanently.
   

Salequzzaman said for water collected on the land to recede, it is imperative to drain water out of the river first.
   

In places where the river bends and the land are on a the same plane, the embankments need to be cut to allow water to be flushed out during ebb tide and then the embankments should be constructed properly, he said.
   

Shankar Kumar Das, 38, a resident of Atghara at Tala in Satkhira, said the River Kapatakshi flowing by the village had been silted up and the water collected on the land could not be flushed out as the riverbed is higher than the land. People need to wait for the sun to dry up the water collected on the low-lying areas.
   

Khulna division Water Development Board executive engineer Zulfikar Ali Hawlader said the department was taking measures to construct and repair the damaged or destroyed embankment stretchers and to flush out the water that collected on the land during the cyclone.

Embankment collapse floods Satkhira villages

The Daily Star, March 1, 2009

Over 3000 people were marooned as six villages in Gabura union under Shyamnagar upazila adjacent to the Sundarbans were flooded following collapse of a damaged embankment at Khalsebunia point on Kabodak River early yesterday.

Following collapse of the 350 feet embankment, the sluice gate was also washed away due to heavy pressure of water from the river during the high tide.

Over 500 bighas of crops were also inundated in the area and over 120 shrimp enclosures were washed away as water entered in the shrimp enclosures collapsing the sluice gate, said locals.

The affected villages are Chakbara, Khalsebunia, Gabura, Madhya Khalsebunia and two other adjoining villages in Gabura union.

The marooned people are preparing to take shelter on the nearby high lands.

Acute scarcity of safe drinking water is persisting in the affected areas as most of the tube-wells have gone under water, sources said.

Local people were working there to reconstruct the collapsed embankment but the embankments collapsed by heavy pressure due to violent tide.

Water Development Board (WDB) failed to take measures to reconstruct the damaged embankment even after repeated appeals by local people, said shrimp farmers Zahed Ali Mollah and Monsur Ali Biswas of village Khalsebunia and Majibar Rahman Mollah of village Gabura.

Local people are trying to reconstruct the damaged embankment, they said.

Contacted, Sub-Assistant Engineer Bikash Kumar Sarkar of the Water Development Board said they reconstructed the damaged embankment but it collapsed again after half an hour.

They will reconstruct the damaged embankment as soon as possible, he said.

Shyamnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Dilip Kumar Banik said local people under the initiative of UP leaders are trying to reconstruct the damaged embankment.

He said he asked the local WDB officials to take measures as early as possible.

Food, water crisis aggravates in Kabodak basin areas

Correspondent, The Daily Star, Satkhira, October 28, 2008

The inclement weather came as a severe blow to over two lakh people in Kabodak basin areas, as rains and waters from the swelled river aggravated the flood and inundated more areas. 

Several thousand people who too shelter on roads and high places earlier are now virtually passing miserable days under the open sky. 

At least 124 villages in 15 unions in Tala and Kalaroa upazilas in Satkhira are worst affected as more water from the swelled river the areas overflowing the banks of silted Kabodak. 

The areas are already water-logged for about two months as waters from the river remained stagnant.

The villagers are passing days half-fed for lack of works as croplands are now under water. There is also acute crisis of fodder and poultry birds are also dying, locals said. 

Most of the areas are under two to three feet water now. The villagers are almost isolated from other areas because boat is the only means of communication. 

Over 25000 homeless families have taken shelter in at least 42 make shift centers built on high lands in the affected areas.

There is a crisis of food and drinking water in those places. Most of the tube wells are under water.

There is no trace of any crop on about 70, 000 acres and at least 85 shrimp enclosures have been inundated, causing a loss of about Tk one crors, farmers said. 

Flooding recurs every year, keeping crop lands under water for over six months silted Kabodak is dying.

Water-logging in the areas is taking serious turn year after year affecting livelihood, Deara Union Parishad (UP) Chairman Anowarul Islam in Kalaroa upazila said. This is a problem since the 80s, he added. 

Satkhira Deputy Commissioner Mizanur Rahman visited the affected areas and said the administration will take steps to mitigate the sufferings of the affected people.

Paani Committee urges government: ‘Solve waterlogging, end woe of people in Kobadak basin’

The Daily Star, October 11, 2008

Leaders of Pani Committee (committee for water), an organisation floated by local people), yesterday urged the government to take measures to solve the persisting waterlogging problems in the Kabodak basin to mitigate sufferings of the affected people. 

They said over 2,00,000 people in 24 unions under five upazilas in Satkhira and Jessore districts remained marooned as water from the silted river Kabodak entering the areas through breaches of embankments and due to overflowing of banks, they said at a press conference organised by the committee at a hotel in the town. 

Affected people are sufferings for lack of food and pure drinking water as waterlogging is hampering agriculture and other income generating activities, they said. 

Stressing the need to take up a long-term project to dredge silted Kabodak River in the south-western region to solve the waterlogging, they urged the government to declare the under-water areas as a ‘disaster zone’.

The worst affected upazilas are Kalaroa and Tala in Satkhira and Manirampur, Keshabpur and Jhikargachha upazilas in Jessore district, Pani Committee President Principal ABM Safiqul Islam said while reading out a written statement. 

Over 10,000 homeless people have taken shelter on high lands in the affected areas and the people are facing acute scarcity of food and pure drinking water, he said. 

The problem has aggravated over the years due to declining flow of the Ganges, deposit of silt in the Kabodak, unplanned coastal embankments and shrimp cultivation, he said.

He demanded that the government arrange sufficient relief for the affected people and their rehabilitation after receding of the stagnant water.

Expressing concern over spread of skin diseases and diarrhoea in the affected areas, he urged the political parties and NGOs to stand by the affected people.

100 villages inundated in Jessore, Satkhira

Correspondent . Jessore, NewAge, October 2008

At least 100 villages under Monirampur, Keshabpur, Abhaynagar, Jhikargachha and Sharsha upazilas in Jessore and Tala and Kalaroa upazilas in Satkhira were inundated due to torrential rain for last few days and onrush of water from upstream. 
   

The River Ichhamati overflowed due to torrential rain and flooded the villages, causing immense sufferings to thousands of people. Crops on vast areas in the two districts also went under water. 
   

The Jessore district administration had already allocated some 13 tonnes of rice for the flood-affected people. Sources in the district administration said 45 villages in Monirampur, Keshabpur and Kalaroa upazilas had been inundated by flash flood apart from nine unions in the region and six wards under Jhikargachha municipality. Some 40,000 people in these areas had been marooned by floodwater, the sources added. 
   

NDC Jahid Hossain told journalists that the River Ichhamati overflowed and inundated a number of villages in Sharsha upazila. The river was flowing above danger level. 
   

Abdul Majid Mollah, the executive engineer of Water Development Board, informed journalists that the River Kobadak also marked a sharp rise due to onrush of water from upstream. 
   

Many villages, including Benapole Putkhali, Bahadurpur and Goga, under Sharsha upazila were submerged by floodwater, he said. 
   

Almost all the villages under the Sagardari union council in Keshabpur upazila were inundated as the River Kobadak crossed danger mark a few days back. 
   

Shaheruzzaman Selim, of Sheikhpura village under the Sagardari union, told New Age that his cropland went under water. ‘The authorities concerned should immediately provide relief for the flood-affected people in the areas,’ he said.

Food, water crisis in 85 Kobadak basin villages

Correspondent, Satkhira. The Daily Star, October 8, 2008

With deterioration of waterlogging in Kobadak basin areas, over 75,000 people living there are passing miserable days amid crisis of food and drinking water.

At least 85 villages in 28 unions in Tala and Kalaroa upazilas in Satkhira and Jhikargachha, Manirampur and Keshabpur upazilas in Jessore district were inundated as water entered the areas overflowing banks of the silted river Kabodak. 

Photo: The Daily Star

There is severe crisis of food and drinking water in those places and marooned people are passing miserable days for lack of work as croplands are now under water. 

The worst affected unions are Sarulia, Tala Sadar, Islamkati, Dhandia, Kumira, Khalishkhali, Magura, Jalalpur and Nagarghata in Tala upazila, Deara, Jugikhali, Joynagar and Jalalabad unions in Kalaroa upazila, Bakra, Hajirabad, Nirjaskhola and Panisara unions in Jhhikargachha, Trimohoni, Bidyanadakati, Mongalkote and Sagardari unions in Keshabpur and Jhhapa, Mashimnagar, Hariharnagar and Rohita unions in Manirampur upazila in Jessore. 

Most of the areas are under two to three feet water now and the villagers are almost isolated from other areas as boat is the only means of communication. 

Over 1,657 homeless families have taken shelter in the makeshift houses on high lands in the affected areas, sources said.

Standing crops on about 30,000 acres of land were submerged. At least 45 shrimp enclosures and over 1760 ponds inundated and shrimps worth Tk one crore were washed away.

Water logging on a vast swath of land and homestead poses a serious threat to livelihood and environment in the areas where waterlogging has become a problem since early 80s, said Sarulia union parishad Chairman Matiar Rahman.

Fifteen Satkhira villages remain waterlogged

Tapos Kanti Das . Satkhira, NewAge, October 6, 2008

Fifteen villages of Tala upazila in Satkhira have remained waterlogged while the Khulna-Satkhira highway has collapsed at three points because of overflow of water from the River Kobadak and heavy rain, causing sufferings to the people of the area.
   

The waterlogged villages are Nawapara, Dhalbaria, Kalapota, Kolia, Dewanipur, Mirzapur, Bara, Kazipur and parts of Ghona, Khorerdangi, Bhobanipur, Laxmanpur, Shubhasini, Shrirampur and Khanpur, according to local people and Tala upazila administration.
   

They also said the Khulna-Satkhira highway has collapsed at Nawapara, Dholbari and Mirzapur under Tala upazila.
   Continuous rain on Wednesday and Thursday and overflow of water from the River Kobadak have left the villages waterlogged.
   

Md Abdul Matin, 43, son of Md Rois Uddin Sardar of village Nawapara, said the people of the waterlogged areas have been facing an acute crisis of drinking water as all the sources of drinking water have become polluted by wastes from the latrines and other filths.
   

People of the area have no work as all the areas have been inundated, he added.
   Md Abdul Halim, 46, son of Abdus Sabur Sheikh of Sonadanga residential area in Khulna city, who was coming to Khulna from Satkhira, said it takes about two hours to pass the points where the Khulna-Satkhira highway has collapsed.
   

Mokbul Hossain, chairman of Tentulia Union Parishad under Tala upazila, said the area became waterlogged due to continuous rain and overflow of water from Kobadak. He said that the water is not going out as the riverbed is upper than the villages.
   

Tala upazila nirbahi officer Khan Reza-Un-Nabi told New Age he has informed higher authorities of the situation and some measures have already been taken.

Villagers repair Kobadak embankment

The Daily Star, September 7, 2008

LABOUR OF LOVE: People of all classes join hands to repair breached Kobadak embankment at Khalshibunia in Shyamnagar upazila on Friday. Photo: STAR

Setting a laudable example, villagers repaired the breached embankment at Khalshibunia point in Gabura union under Shyamnagar upazila on the River Kabodak through voluntary service after the Water Development Board failed to do the task.

The huge task completed by Friday as over 3,500 villagers in the affected areas irrespective of social status and affiliations, joined the work to reconstruct the embankment that collapsed on Wednesday. 

At least nine villages under Gabura union in Shyamnagar upazila were flooded as water entered the areas after the embankment collapse at Khalshibunia point on Wednesday. 

While visiting the area on Friday, this correspondent saw people of all classes including students, teachers, farmers and day labourers cutting earth with spades. 

The area assumed a festive look with people singing modern, folk and patriotic songs. 

“As the authorities failed, we sat in a meeting and decided to reconstruct the breached embankment immediately by ourselves,” said Gabura UP Chairman Lenin.

Satkhira embankment on Kabodak river washed away: Munshiganj town partially inundated

The Daily Star, September 5, 2008. 

Students of this school in Jamalpur arrive for classes on rafts made of banana trees yesterday as floodwater inundated the area leaving out just the school. Photo: STAR

Nine villages were submerged, crops were destroyed, shrimp enclosures washed away and 8,000 people rendered homeless when a section of the flood-protection embankment on the Kobadak in Satkhira near the Sundarbans gave in. 

Floodwater inundated parts of Munshiganj town. The flood situation in the eastern parts of the capital is expected to deteriorate in a day or two. Inundations of fresh low-lying areas in other central parts of the country are feared. 

A few thousand marooned people in the flood-affected districts are suffering due to the lack of food, drinking water and fodder for their livestock. In some areas the local administration is conducting relief operations which are inadequate, reports say. 

After a hiatus of a few days, the water levels of all three major rivers–Brahmaputra-Jamuna, the Padma and the Meghna–are expected to increase from today inundating fresh low-lying areas in Munshiganj, Tangail, Manikganj, Shariatpur, Madaripur, Faridpur, Rajbari, Narayanganj and some parts of Dhaka, the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) said. 

In Satkhira, the nine villages were inundated as an embankment was breached in Shyamnagar upazila. 

Erosion by the Kabodak devoured a sluice gate and caused the collapse of the 200-foot segment of the embankment. The flooding destroyed around 4,000 homes and affected 15,000 people in the area. 

Crops on 400 acres of land were submerged and 443 shrimp enclosures in the area were washed away. Locals said cracks in the embankment developed Tuesday and they had tried to repair it. 

The flood situation in Bogra deteriorated as an embankment on the Jamuna was breached sending water of the Jamuna into the Bangali river. 

Our staff correspondent in Bogra, citing local representatives and members of the administration, reported that 335 families lost their homes while 2,500 families were affected. 

A correspondent in Munshiganj reports: Floodwater marooned people in Ganokpara and Manikpur in the district town. Around 600 families lost their properties by river erosion in Tongibari upazila. 

Erosion by the Jamuna has taken a serious turn in Fulchari upazila of Gaibandha. Several hundred people are still marooned in Gaibandha town while many others took shelter on roads and in educational institutions.