Heavy monsoon raining on Tuesday paralysed life in the Barisal city, inundating roads, lanes and by-lanes and confining people to their residents.
Barisal met office said torrential rain, with thunderbolts and gusty wind, starting at around 12:30pm, continued till evening with short breaks.The met office measured more than 92 milimetre rain till 6:00pm.
Most of the city dwellers remained confined to their houses while students and office goers suffered much as they had to brave the incessant rain to go to their destinations.
Rain water entered many educational institutions while office premises remained water-logged.
Transports on city roads were scarce and charged higher fare from the passengers.
Lack of proper drainage and sewers led to the inundation of most of the city roads in the low-lying area while shops and houses on the roads were submerged, causing sufferings to the local people.
Makeshift shops and hawkers’ markets remained closed during most of the time of the day and the kitchen markets got very few customers as people, except those in emergencies, could not come out of their houses.
The Barisal port authorities put restriction on the movement of water transports of less than 65-feet in length until further order from 2:00pm Tuesday.
The step was taken after the weather department asked inland river-port authorities to hoist cautionary signal no 2 from Tuesday noon following the downpour with gusty wind in the port and adjoining areas, said Abul Bashar Mazumdar, deputy director, traffic and marine safety department of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, Barisal office.
Md Shahidullah, Barisal port officer, explained that operators of triple-deck Barisal-Dhaka-bound launches were asked to ply their vehicles cautiously because of the adverse weather and rough river condition in the region.
Gopal Chandra Majumdar, assistant general manager of the BIWTC Barisal station, said rocket steamers PS Ostrich on Dhaka-Morelganj and PS Turn on the Morelganj-Dhaka route departed the Barisal port safely.
Road transport operators and passengers said road communications with Kuakata tourist zone was disrupted as ferry gangways went under water and road transportation was risky on most parts of Barisal-Faridpur route and Barisal-Dhaka highway because of the downpour.
Shohidul Alam, deputy commissioner of Barisal, said upazila nirbahi officers, agriculture, disaster and relief management departments were asked to monitor the situation round the clock.
-With New Age input
