242 mm of rain in three days in Sunamganj, water is rising again in rivers and Howar
Photo Collected
Due to continuous rain, the water of Sunamganj’s rivers and Haor has started rising again. The farmers of Haor are in trouble again. Concerns about harvesting, threshing and drying of remaining Boro paddy have increased among them.
According to the forecast of Meteorological Department and Water Development Board (PUBO), heavy rain may continue for the next few days. Upstream India’s Cherrapunji is also likely to experience rain, and the situation is expected to worsen due to landslides.
বিজ্ঞাপন
According to Paubo sources, Sunamganj received 115 millimeters of rain in 24 hours from 9:00 am on Thursday to 9:00 am on Friday. Earlier, 108 mm of rain was recorded in the district on Tuesday. In total, the district has received 242 mm of rain in the last three days.
During this time the water of Surma river has increased by 13 cm. At 9 am on Friday, the water level of the river was 1.72 meters below the warning level. In the pre-monsoon season, the width of the Surma river is 6.5 meters.
বিজ্ঞাপন
Sunamganj Paubo Executive Commissioner Mamun Howladar told Prothom Alo that heavy rain is forecast in Sunamganj and Cherrapunji upstream. This will increase the water in rivers and streams. Farmers’ crops may be damaged. However, there is no danger of flood situation for now.
Farmers of Haor said that since the beginning of Baisakh, they have been suffering to collect paddy due to rain. Even if there is sunshine for one or two days, the paddy cannot be dried because it starts raining again. In many areas, cut rice is left to eat.
Rafiqul Islam (52), a farmer of Lakshmipur village of Bhimkhali union of Jamalganj upazila, said that it was sunny for four consecutive days till last Wednesday. The farmers got some relief from this. But it started raining day and night again from yesterday Thursday.
Rafiqul’s commentary, ‘Ibar Hawre Baisakhta is our great suffering. Ila cloud (rain) is not there before. As it is now, the rest of the rice could not be harvested. I’ll waste everything.’
Bijan Sen Roy, general secretary of Haor Bachao Andolan of the district, said that the disaster has not left the farmers behind this year. If the weather is fine one day, it rains the next two days. If there was at least one week of continuous sunshine, the farmers could harvest the remaining paddy. But with the weather conditions, that doesn’t seem to be possible.
According to the sources of Agriculture Department, 137 small and big haors of Sunamganj have been planted in 2 lakh 23 thousand 511 hectares of land. The production target was set at around 14 lakh tonnes of paddy.
So far, an average of 87.40 percent of paddy has been harvested in the district. A total of 1 lakh 94 thousand 768 hectares of paddy has been harvested. Out of this, 1 lakh 48 thousand 231 hectares have been cut in Haor area. According to that, about 13 percent of paddy is yet to be harvested.
According to the agriculture department’s calculation 10 days ago, the rice of 20 thousand 550 hectares of land in Sunamganj has been damaged due to heavy rains and floods, the financial loss of which is more than 500 crore rupees. However, the damage estimate was not updated after that. Local farmers and people involved in agriculture say the actual damage is much higher.
Mohammad Omar Farooq, deputy director of the District Agriculture Extension Department, told Prothom Alo that the final damage calculation has not been determined yet. If the rains continue, the damage may increase further.
In the current season in Sunamganj, the rains start from the middle of March. This causes waterlogging in many places and damages the rice. Later, the heavy rains that started from April 26 and the upland hills washed away Boro paddy in almost all the haors of the district.
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