Upstream flows are pushing the Padma and the Jamuna up quickly in the Pabna region. The Padma is running just 74 centimetres below danger level. The rising water has flooded crop fields in the char areas of Pabna and Kushtia. In Chapainawabganj the Padma, Mahananda and Punarbhaba have begun to fall, but about 5,000 people are still marooned.

Water has entered wide stretches of farmland in Ishwardi upazila of Pabna — Lakshmikunda, Digrir Char, Dadapur and Char Kuruliya among them — and in Char Bhabanipur and Shanikdiya in Sadar upazila. It stands knee-deep in places and waist-deep in others, submerging early-variety crops, vegetables and other plantings.

According to the Pabna Water Development Board, the Padma stood at 13.06 metres at the Hardinge Bridge point on Monday morning against a danger level of 13.80 metres. The Jamuna stood at 7.83 metres at Aricha against a danger level of 8.95 metres. Deputy commissioner Aminul Islam said about 100 tonnes of GR rice, 300 packets of dry food and cash support have been allocated.

In Chapainawabganj, about 5,000 people in low-lying parts of five unions of Sadar and Shibganj upazilas — Narayanpur, Alatuli, Panka, Ujirpur and Durlabhpur — are marooned. Many families have moved to higher ground; water has entered courtyards, houses and cattle sheds, and residents have struggled to move livestock and belongings. Panka union parishad chairman Abdul Malek said about 2,000 families in his union alone are marooned and that four primary schools and one secondary school have suspended classes.

The district Department of Agricultural Extension's initial estimate puts 206.4 hectares of crops under water in Chapainawabganj Sadar, Shibganj and Gomastapur: 113 hectares of Aus, 40 hectares of vegetables, 28 hectares of banana, 10.6 hectares of black gram, five hectares of Aman, four hectares of turmeric, 3.4 hectares of summer onion seedbed, three hectares of chilli and two hectares of papaya. Deputy director Atikul Islam said the final loss will depend on how long the water stays.

At Daulatpur in Kushtia, the upazila agriculture office's initial estimate is that crops on 1,050 hectares have been affected — 519 hectares in Ramkrishnapur union, 228 in Philipnagar, 165 in Chilmari and 95 in Moricha. Farmers say the damage is greater than the department's figure. Upazila agriculture officer Rehena Parveen said some crops could still be saved if the water drains quickly.

The Meteorological Department said the extended axis of the monsoon trough runs through Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and central Bangladesh to Assam. The monsoon is less active over Bangladesh and moderate over the north Bay of Bengal.

Source: Samakal (staff correspondent)