Shawdesh Desk:

Flashfloods caused by hilly surge from the upstream rivers have submerged over crops on 9,400 hector of land in the haor areas so far, officials said.

Several districts in the haor region including Sylhet, Sunamganj, Kishoreganj and Netrakona have been affected by flash floods in the last three weeks due to the huge onrush of upstream water.

The early flashfloods have damaged more than 17 embankments and water entered vast croplands in the region.

Farmers have been working hard to repair the embankments to protect their only crop from the hilly surge.

“Farmers harvested paddy from 1.84 lakh hectares of land, which accounts for 41 per cent of the total boro cultivation in haor areas,” said Khandakar M Rashed Iftekher, additional deputy director of Field Service Wing at Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).

He also said boro crops on 9,400 hectors of land have been inundated till now in the haor region with the largest portion of 6,000 hectors being in Sunamganj.

Farmers in these areas depend on a single crop, boro paddy, to earn their livelihoods.

Boro paddy has been cultivated on some 9.50 lakh hectares of land in seven haor districts while the acreage is 49.63 lakh hectares across the country, according to DAE data.

Onrush of upstream river water has inundated at least 200 hectares of farming land at Nasirnagar in Brahmanbaria.

Most of the farming lands in six unions – Sadar, Bhaulakut, Burishwar, Goalnagar, Purbabhag – went under water.

Brahmanbaria Department of Agricultural Extension Deputy Director Rabiul Haque Majumdar told reporters that upstream water submerged around 200 hectares of land near the Titas, Bolobhadro and Langhar rivers.

“Paddy in haor land is still safe. It will be severely damaged if the water level rises further,” he said.

Farmers can harvest the paddy from rest of land if they get 10 days, local sources said.

The entire district has been experiencing heavy rain since Wednesday morning, adding to the anxiety of farmers who still have unharnessed crops.

Baulai River was following 30cm above danger level at Khaliajuri in Netrokona, Arifuzzaman Bhuyan, executive engineer of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Center (FFWC) of BWDB said.

Water level in the rivers in Sylhet are in a declining trend while rivers in Sunamganj and Habiganj are in steady state and the water level in rivers in Netrokona is in a rising trend, he said.

According to the forecast of metrological organisations, there is chance of heavy rainfall at some places in the north-eastern region of the country and adjoining states of Assam and Meghalaya of India in next 24 hours.

“The major rivers of Netrokona may rise slowly in next 24 hours. The flood situation of Netrokona may remain steady in next 24 hours,” he added.