After eight days of continuous heavy rain, floodwater has begun to recede in Cox's Bazar. With no rain since the night of Sunday, 12 July, the water in inundated areas has started to go down.

The district administration has already drawn up a preliminary list of flood damage, showing widespread losses to lives, homes, fisheries, agriculture and roads, and breaches in embankments. Thirty-two people, including 13 Rohingya, have died in landslides and other flood-related accidents, and one person is missing. Officials say more damage will become clear once the water has fully receded, and only then can the full losses be assessed.

Abdul Hannan, assistant meteorologist at the Cox's Bazar weather office, said a total of 823 millimetres of rain was recorded over nine consecutive days from 4 to 12 July. In the 24 hours to Monday evening, 13 July, 4 millimetres were recorded.

According to the district administration, heavy rain and hill run-off from upstream flooded 69 of the district's 71 unions and four of its five municipalities. About 49 per cent of the area went under water, and at least 250,000 people were marooned.

The preliminary report says the worst-hit upazila, Pekua, was 95 per cent inundated, followed by Matamuhuri at 85 per cent, Chakaria 80 per cent, Kutubdia 65 per cent and Maheshkhali 50 per cent. Ramu was 35 per cent flooded, Cox's Bazar Sadar, Ukhiya and Teknaf 25 per cent each, and Eidgaon 5 per cent.

Of the 32 dead, the highest toll was in Ukhiya, where 14 people, 13 of them Rohingya, died in landslides. In Chakaria six people died and one went missing. Three died in Cox's Bazar Sadar, two in Pekua, three in Ramu, and one each in Matamuhuri, Maheshkhali and Kutubdia.

Preliminary figures show 1,613 homes damaged in the eight days of rain and flooding. Pekua was worst hit with 450 homes, followed by Chakaria (300), Kutubdia (250), Maheshkhali (200), Matamuhuri (190), Teknaf (100), Ukhiya (50), Eidgaon (30), Ramu (25) and Cox's Bazar Sadar (18).

The district fisheries department's preliminary estimate puts losses in the sector at about Tk 46.22 crore. District fisheries officer Nazmul Huda said 3,918 ponds and 453 shrimp enclosures in 61 unions of 10 upazilas had been damaged, covering about 2,440 hectares.

He said 1,097 tonnes of fish, 385 tonnes of shrimp, 3.56 crore fish fry and 2.21 crore shrimp fry had been lost from these ponds and enclosures. Infrastructure at 768 ponds, enclosures and farms was also damaged. In all, the preliminary loss is estimated at Tk 46.22 crore.

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) says in its preliminary report that crops on 4,211 hectares were damaged, including Aus paddy, Aman seedbeds, betel leaf gardens and various vegetables.

By upazila, the damaged land comprises 1,661 hectares in Chakaria, 1,120 in Kutubdia, 500 in Pekua, 340 in Ramu, 237 in Maheshkhali, 140 in Teknaf, 88 in Cox's Bazar Sadar, 75 in Eidgaon and 50 in Ukhiya.

The agriculture department says 43,210 farmers in nine upazilas have been affected: 13,852 in Chakaria, 7,020 in Pekua, 6,415 in Kutubdia, 4,875 in Ramu, 4,320 in Maheshkhali, 3,120 in Teknaf, 1,304 in Eidgaon, 1,166 in Cox's Bazar Sadar and 1,138 in Ukhiya.

Dr Bimal Kumar Pramanik, deputy director of the DAE in Cox's Bazar, said this was a preliminary estimate. The final figure will be set after field verification once the floodwater has fully receded.

The preliminary report of the Cox's Bazar Water Development Board (BWDB) says the embankment was damaged at 44 points along the 380.295 kilometres under Water Development Division-1, after the Bakkhali and Matamuhuri rivers rose above the danger level in the continuous rain.

BWDB executive engineer Nurul Islam said about 25 metres of embankment and part of a bridge had collapsed at Purutyakhali Purbapara in Konakhali union of Chakaria upazila. Repairs to the damaged embankments will start quickly once the rain eases and the situation returns to normal.

The district administration's preliminary count shows 2,048 kilometres of roads and 79 bridges and culverts damaged in Cox's Bazar, with Chakaria, Matamuhuri and Pekua worst affected.

The report says 350 km of roads and 20 bridges and culverts were damaged in Chakaria, 190 km and 20 bridges and culverts in Matamuhuri, and 230 km and two bridges and culverts in Pekua. Road damage also totalled 20 km in Cox's Bazar Sadar, 50 km in Ramu, 9 km in Kutubdia, 6 km in Ukhiya, 5 km in Teknaf and 5 km in Eidgaon. Among bridges and culverts, 15 were damaged in Teknaf, 12 in Ukhiya, five in Ramu, four in Cox's Bazar Sadar, and two each in Pekua, Maheshkhali and Kutubdia.

Thirty educational institutions in Cox's Bazar have been damaged, 15 each in Pekua and Kutubdia. The administration's preliminary list gives no figures for damage to schools in other upazilas.

The district administration said 1,580 people took refuge in 618 shelters over nine days. Flood victims have received 7,790 packets of dry food and 298 tonnes of rice as relief, and a request for more relief has been sent to the ministry.

Heavy rain has stopped in Cox's Bazar since Sunday night, but the sky over the whole district remains overcast. Although water is slowly receding from flooded areas, the suffering of marooned people has not eased. Many homes are still under water. Some people are staying with relatives, some in shelters and some in tents pitched by the roadside. With tube wells submerged and cooking impossible, those affected face acute shortages of food and water.

District and upazila administrations, political and social organisations, the BGB, the army, police and others are working in the affected areas. But victims say relief falls short of the number of people in need. Drinking water is the biggest problem, and families with small children and elderly people are suffering most.

On Monday night, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Anindya Amit, who came to Chattogram and Cox's Bazar as the prime minister's representative to visit flood-hit areas and meet immediate relief needs, held a meeting with the district administration and journalists.

After the meeting, at around 10:30pm, the state minister said the government stood by every person affected by the floods. Government assistance would reach everyone quickly, however they had been affected, and all necessary steps would be taken to help them return to normal life.

Anindya Amit said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman had sent him to Cox's Bazar to coordinate the disaster response. "The prime minister's clear instruction is that no one should go hungry and no affected family should be deprived of government support. We want to prove not just in words but in deeds that the government stands by the people," he said.

He said that because communications had broken down in many remote areas, relief could not reach everywhere quickly, but arrangements were being made through coordinated administration to get help there fast. Where the district administration cannot reach, the army, police, BGB, navy and other forces are working. "Our aim is to get government assistance to every affected person," he said.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Commissioner M A Mannan and attended by Lutfur Rahman Kajal, MP for the Cox's Bazar Sadar seat, Alamgir Muhammad Mahfuz Ullah Farid, MP for Cox's Bazar-2, Nurul Bashar Chowdhury, administrator of the district council, the additional DIG, the superintendent of police and senior officials of various government offices. The preliminary damage list for the eight days of flooding was presented at the meeting.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.