Three hours of heavy rain inundates Chattogram

Rain water has pooled up in parts of Chattogram city following three hours of very heavy rainfall.

Between 6-9am on Wednesday, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department’s (BMD) Ambagan unit in the port city logged 89mm of rainfall.

The downpour had begun earlier, around 2am on Wednesday and intensified by early morning. By morning, heavy monsoon showers were pouring down.

The rain became lighter after 9am but drizzles continued into the afternoon.

According to the Ambagan centre, a total of 108mm of rainfall was recorded in the 24 hours until Wednesday noon. Of that, 89mm fell in just three hours from 6-9am.

The Patenga weather office logged 79mm of rain over the same 24-hour period, with 55mm recorded between 6-9am.

According to meteorological standards, 44-88mm of rain in 24 hours qualifies as heavy rainfall while anything above 88mm as very heavy rainfall.

Meteorologist Bashir Ahmed of the Patenga office told bdnews24.com, “The monsoon is active over Bangladesh and in a strong position over the northern Bay of Bengal that leads to the very heavy rainfall. Such heavy to very heavy rain may continue in Chattogram over the next few days.”

Due to the three-hour-long heavy shower, parts of the city such as GEC Mor, Katalganj, Agrabad commercial area, Kapashgola, and Halishahar saw waterlogging, causing widespread suffering for commuters and office-goers.

Katalganj resident Rashedul Alam said that the area experiences waterlogging whether it's light or heavy rain though the situation has improved in parts of the city.

Moin Uddin, who had to visit the Agrabad commercial area for office work, told bdnews24.com: “I understand there was heavy rainfall today, so the waterlogging makes sense. But the area was flooded on Tuesday too, even though other parts of the city were dry.

“No vehicles want to enter this area when it rains. You have to walk through water.”

To address decades-long waterlogging in the city, four major development projects, including a CDA (Chattogram Development Authority) mega project, are currently ongoing with a combined budget of Tk 14.39 billion.

Among these, the CDA’s project alone involves 36 canals and has a total estimated cost of Tk 8.62 billion. The deadline for this project’s implementation is June next year.

So far, 84 percent of the project has been finished. Of the 36 canals, work on 25 canals is complete.

Of the remaining canals, work on six canals is over 90 percent done while the work on the other five canals is less than 90 percent complete.

The areas of Katalganj, Panchlaish, and Muradpur are located around the Hijra Canal, which has not yet been fully excavated and renovated under the CDA’s project.

Meanwhile, the Chattogram City Corporation attributes the waterlogging in Agrabad to the poor condition of a nearly three-km-long box culvert, which is clogged with garbage. Cleaning operations on that canal are currently under way.