Rivers fall in Rangamati as flood eases in Bilaichhari and Baghaichhari

The flood in Bilaichhari and Baghaichhari upazilas of Rangamati improved somewhat in July 2026. As rain eased on Saturday 11 July, the level and current of the Raikhyong river in Bilaichhari began to fall and water slowly drained from flood-hit areas, Jagonews24 reported on 12 July. Farua Bazar and other submerged places started to reappear, and in Baghaichhari, where water receded from wide marooned areas, people began leaving shelters for their homes.

Baghaichhari upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Amena Marjan told Jagonews24 that the water had started to fall and life was returning to normal in many affected areas. By her count, 1,445 flood-hit people were still staying in the upazila's shelters.

The remote Farua union of Bilaichhari was hit hardest. The Daily Ittefaq reported on 11 July that hill runoff from Mizoram in India and rising water in Kaptai Lake had brought a second surge that put all of Farua Bazar under water, sinking about 150 shops. Many families sheltered at Farua High School and the union parishad building, and power and mobile networks were cut. A Wikipedia compilation of reports puts the number marooned in Farua Bazar and 14 villages at about 11,000.

On 11 July, hill runoff and the strong current in the Raikhyong virtually cut Farua off by water, and the upazila administration could not take relief there directly. The district and upazila administrations instead gathered food locally and gave rice, lentils, cooking oil, salt and other essentials to 100 flood-hit families in Farua.

Bilaichhari UNO Md. Zakir Hossain told Jagonews24 that, with the current easing, the administration had delivered relief to Farua together with local political leaders, and that if no more rain fell the water would soon drain from low-lying areas. He said about 50 people had taken refuge in Farua's only shelter by Saturday night, and the administration had arranged their dinner.

Bhorer Kagoj reported on 12 July that continuous rain and runoff from across the border had flooded Baghaichhari, Barkal, Bilaichhari, Juraichhari and Naniarchar upazilas, leaving about 30,000 people marooned across the district, with 51 shelters opened.

Rangamati is Bangladesh's largest district by area, at more than 6,116 square kilometres, and both Bilaichhari and Baghaichhari, two of its ten upazilas, lie on the Indian border. Bilaichhari had 29,540 people at the 2022 census, and Farua is one of its four unions; to its east lie Mizoram in India and Chin State in Myanmar. Baghaichhari had 106,287 people and borders Tripura to the north and Mizoram to the east. Kaptai Lake was created in 1961 by damming the Karnaphuli river, which flows through the district.

Photo: Ferdous / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources: Jagonews24, The Daily Ittefaq, Bhorer Kagoj, Wikipedia