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DHAKA, June 9: Bangladesh is expected to suffer extensive flooding in July because rainfall is expected to be about 20 percent heavier than normal, weather experts said on Sunday.
The flat, low-lying country, which this year has already been hit by rainfall 35 percent heavier than usual, could suffer huge crop losses in the event of major floods, they said.
“There is a forecast of 15 percent higher than normal rainfall in June and 20 percent higher in July,” said Akram Hossain, Director of the Meteorology Department in Dhaka.
“There is a possibility that the country will experience flooding above normal levels,” he told Reuters.
The country’s worst floods in 1988 killed more than 3,000 people and damaged over two million tonnes of rice in the fields.
Tropical Bangladesh, criss-crossed by nearly 60 rivers and hundreds of tributaries, has average annual rainfall of about 10 metres. The rainy season starts in mid June and lasts until September. Hossain said early pre-monsoon rains had already raised underground water levels and any excess showers could set off floodings, which would damage crops.
“We already had flash floods sweeping the country’s northeastern regions in April and May following heavy rains, and obviously there will be crop losses if there is flooding above normal levels,” he said.
CROP DAMAGE: “Even if they are not as bad as 1988, some damage to crops and property will be there,” Hossain said.
Agriculture Minister Matiur Rahman Nizami said last month that food production has been affected by drought being followed by heavy rains and flash floods.
He said foodgrain production in 2001/02 (July-June) would fall to 24 million tonnes from 25.17 million tonnes the previous year — still enough to feed the country’s 130 million people.
Ministry officials said the foodgrain yield was still about two million tonnes above the annual requirement of slightly over 22 million tonnes.
They said there were also more than one million tonnes of foodgrain, including nearly 700,000 tonnes of wheat, in stock in government warehouses to face any emergency.
Officials with the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) said most major rivers of the country were now full.
They said the Manu and Khoai rivers in the northeast were flowing above danger marks and might burst their banks.
Selim Bhuiyan, an executive engineer of the centre, said the country’s river beds were silting up, reducing their capacity to hold water and threatening to spill the excess over the banks. He also said unplanned or poorly designed infrastructure, including roads, had blocked or suffocated many water passages, raising the threats of floods.—Reuters
