Severe humanitarian disaster strikes Feni

Communication, electricity cut off

Feni Correspondent: Eight districts of the country, including Feni and Noakhali, have been affected by floods coming down from India and heavy rains for several days. One after another townships are being flooded as water is entering at high speed through the breach of flood control dam of Muhuri, Kahua and Ceylon rivers. Residents of Feni in dire humanitarian crisis.
It is known that more than 350,000 electricity customers of Feni have been cut off. All communication has also been stopped. The local residents have spent their days in extreme suffering and fear.
On Thursday (August 22), General Manager of Feni Pallibiddut Samiti, Howladar Md. Fazlur Rahman said, “Out of four lakh customers in the district, more than three lakh are without electricity. Heavy rain has damaged power supply in various areas. Electricity connection was normal in some areas of Sonagazi and Daganbhuiyan upazilas of the district till 8 pmyesterday.
Feni Power Development Board Executive Engineer Hossain Mahmud Shamim Farhad said, ‘About 70 percent of our customers are without electricity. Meters have been damaged due to water seeping into the ground floors of buildings in different areas of the city. So, the electricity connection will be off until the water recedes. Connectivity is unlikely to be restored before the flood waters recede.
It is known that the heavy rains of the last three days and the landslides that came down from the upstream of India have caused a humanitarian disaster.
More than 40 villages of Sadar Union, Anandpur, Munsirhat, Amjadhat Union of Fulgazi Upazila have been flooded. More than 45 villages including Mirzanagar, Chithlia, Buxmahmud and Pursharam in Parashuram are under water. Several villages of Pathannagar, Radhanagar, Shubopur Union of Chagalnaya have also experienced floods.
Mohiuddin, a local journalist of Parashuram, said, “All the houses have been submerged in the flood water. Can’t do rescue work properly due to strong current of water. Due to lack of electricity, mobile network, they have to suffer more. The flood situation has become dire.
Subdivisional Engineer of Feni Water Development Board (PUBO) Abul Kashem said that due to continuous rains and Indian hill slopes, water is entering the locality through 27 broken parts of the flood control dams of Muhuri, Kahua and Cilonia rivers. At the beginning of last month, erosion occurred at 15 places in the Muhuri, Kahua and Ceylon rivers. After patching up those places, the dam broke at 12 more places earlier this month, flooding more than 100 villages. Damage to infrastructure, rice, crops and fish exceeded 30 crores. After 15 days, the flood occurred again.
In this direction, the local administration and various voluntary organizations have entered the field with relief assistance for the flood victims. Members of the Army, BGB, Coast Guard and Fire Service are active in rescue operations.