The embankment on the Kopotakkho River has breached at Sripur-Kurikahunia in Pratapnagar union of Ashashuni upazila, Satkhira. Erosion began at about 3am on Sunday and grew serious by around 7am on Monday, 28 September; residents say about 50 metres of the embankment has slid towards the river and canal.

The breach is just south of the Kurikahunia launch ghat. Part of the WAPDA road has collapsed along with the embankment, making the route dangerous. Since morning, local people have turned out on their own to dump sand and earth on the damaged section.

Resident Abdul Khaleque said people there fight the river all year and live in constant fear of their homes flooding. Trees and crops are only now growing back, he said; if the area floods again everything will be lost and thousands of fish enclosures will be washed away.

Another resident, Nure Alam Siddiqui, complained that the Water Development Board usually starts work only after a breach rather than acting beforehand. With a canal right in front of the breach, a full collapse could flood Pratapnagar and neighbouring Anulia union, he said.

Ashashuni UNO Shyamananda Kundu said the local union chairman had been asked to start initial work and the Water Development Board had been informed. Abdur Rahman Tazkia, executive engineer of the Water Development Board in Satkhira, said about 50 metres of embankment had breached, officials were on their way to the site and work would start very soon. The report is by NewsG24's Satkhira correspondent.

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

Source: NewsG24