September 01, 2008	Monday	Sha'aban 29, 1429

DHAKA, Aug 31: At least 20,000 people in northern Bangladesh have been cut off from the rest of the country after several rivers burst their banks, news reports said on Sunday as a flood warning agency forecast the situation was “likely to deteriorate”.

Crops on some 10,000 hectares of land were under water in the northern districts of Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Gaibandha, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported. The Daily Star newspaper reported at least 60,000 day labourers lost their jobs because of the flooding.

Meanwhile, the official Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said the “overall flood situation of the country is alarming” as water levels of all three major rivers Jamuna, Padma and Meghna were rising simultaneously.

Mokhlesur Rahman, an official with the control room of the Disaster Ministry, said officials were trying to collect details from the flooded zones.

The forecasting centre said more low-lying areas in both northern and central Bangladesh are likely to be submerged within two to three days while north-eastern districts bordering India are under threat.

Flooding during monsoon season comes almost every year in various regions of low-lying Bangladesh, a delta nation of 150 million people, leaving thousands homeless and destroying crops.—AP