Eid has not brought joy to many in Sylhet region as homes of more than 1.6 million people were flooded and nearly 30,000 were forced to move to shelter centres.

Manty families with children and elderly left their inundated homes and took shelter on the highways with nothing but plastic sheets to protect them from rain.

“Flood water entered my home the night before the Eid.  As the water kept rising, I left the earthen hut with my grandchildren and waded through knee-deep water to this road,” 60-year-old Mosammat Begum, who was on the Sylhet-Bholaganj road in Tukerbazar area, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Her three grandchildren, aged less than 10, were with her under a shed the family built with plastic sheets and sticks by the road.

“We can see our hut from here. There is chest-high water in it. It may collapse anytime. Our food and belongings are already damaged,” said the woman whose son is a farm worker.

Many families were seen by the side of roads in Sylhet, Sunamganj, Moulvibazar and Habiganj over the last two days.

On Sylhet-Tamabil and Sylhet-Bholaganj roads, people took shelter on empty trucks and lorries.

In vast areas and hundreds of inundated villages, dinghies are the only means to go from one place to another in monsoon.

Since many poor families do not have one, they are not able to move to a government shelter.

Samad Ahmed, a farmer of Meghargao area of Sylhet’s Companiganj, said he and family members went to a primary school near their village the day before Eid, but it was already overcrowded.

“Then we went to a kitchen market where a shopkeeper let us stay in his shop,” he said.

In Sylhet district, almost 75 percent of areas, including 23 wards of the city, and 1,548 villages in 13 upazilas have been flooded, directly affecting over 8.25 lakh people, said Deputy Commissioner Sheikh Russel Hasan.

While poor people are the most vulnerable, the comparatively well-off farmers also lost their stored grain to the flood.

In Sylhet city, the Bangladesh Army and different government departments were racing against time to protect the Baraikandi power substation from a swollen Surma river.

In Sunamganj, homes of 5.6 lakh people have been flooded as the Surma flowed 145cm above the danger mark in Chhatak, 43cm in Sunamganj town and 21cm in Derai.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Rashed Iqubal Chowdhury said new areas were flooded yesterday.

Officials in Moulvibazar said nearly half of the district was flooded, affecting 1.93 lakh people.

Urme Binte Salam, deputy commissioner of Moulvibazar, said, “As more rainfall is in the forecast, we are preparing for an even more devastating flood.”

Heavy to very heavy rainfall in Bangladesh’s north-eastern and northern regions in the next 24 to 48 hours may cause flash floods in Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, and Rangpur.

Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) of the Bangladesh Water Development Board warned this in its 9:00am bulletin.

Low-lying areas in the Netrokona district could face deteriorating conditions during this period. All major rivers in the north-eastern region may rise in the next 24 hours, according to the bulletin.

Dudhkumar, Teesta, and Dharala rivers in the northern region are expected to rise. Flash floods might affect low-lying areas of Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, and Rangpur districts within 24 to 48 hours, it reads.

The Brahmaputra and Jamuna are rising and may continue to rise for the next 72 hours, potentially reaching the warning level at some points. The Padma is also rising and this trend may continue for the next 48 hours.

Except the Surma, all major rivers in the north-eastern region are also rising, added the bulletin.