People, still struggling to recover from the traumatic experience of the cyclone Aila, are leaving their homes for safer places or cyclone shelters fearing another disaster as depression driven rains and tidal surge flooded vast areas in Dacope and Koyra upazilas of the district over last few days.
‘Tidal surge has submerged vast tracts of land forcing us to leave the village for cyclone shelters… The memory of Aila still haunts us…,’ said 60-year-old Abu Bakar of village Nalian of Dacope upazila which was battered by the cyclone in May 2009.
Abu Bakar, is one of those who returned to their homesteads from makeshift shelters on roads over the past months in the hope of starting life afresh. But fear of new calamities has forced him to set out for safer places.
A large number of people of the two upazilas had taken shelter on roads or
embankments after the Aila struck the coastal districts on May 25, 2009, taking a heavy toll on lives and property.
The Khulna met office recorded 146mm of rainfall from 6:00am Thursday to 12:00pm Friday, the highest amount of rain in the season.
Vast areas in Koyra sadar, Maharajpur and Dakkhin Bedkashi, Sutarkhali and Kamarkhola unions of the upazila have gone under 4 to 5 feet water due to incessant rains, triggered by depression in the Bay of Bengal, for the last few days.
‘You see, everyone taking shelter here is panicked. The surge of water around us is higher than what we saw after the Aila,’ said Gobinda Prashad Mandal, headmaster of Sutarkhali Gainpara registered primary school, standing on an embankment where a good number of people have taken shelter. ‘People here want shelter and food,’ he said adding that he was thinking of taking his family to a safer place.
Tidal surge swelled the rivers by five to six feet, said Dacope upazila parishad vice-chairman Jayanti Rani Biswas.
‘The embankment has breached at least at five points due to high tide,’ she said adding that the locals were trying to repair the breaches. ‘Road links in most of the areas have been snapped.’
‘The ground floor of my house is now under three feet water,’ said 38-year old Sanjay Roy of village Kalinagar under Dacope upazila. ‘People of my village have started leaving their homesteads for safer places,’ he said.
A statement jointly issued by Aila Durgata Sanghati Mancha and Upakulio Beribandh Nirman Ganasangram Committee demanded emergency relief supplies for the affected people and repair of the embankments.
Dacope upazila nirbahi officer Kazi Atiur Rahman told New Age that the
district administration had allocated 10 metric tonnes of rice for the affected people of the upazila.
