CHITTAGONG, May 11 (BSS) After months of dry weather, the district and its adjoining areas experienced record rains since
midnight last night as the monsoon set in.
Torrential rains reached an extreme form up to this afternoon paralysing civic life and business activities badly. City residents were almost forced to stay inside the houses.
Meteorology Department said they have recorded 54.2 mm rainfall during the last 24 hours ending 12 noon today.
Activities at offices, businesses and schools witnessed a slow start in the morning as most parts of the city went into knee to waist deep water.
Vast low-lying, residential areas, commercial establishments,
huge educational institutions were inundated with the
intermittent heavy downpour.
Movements of mechanized vehicles in most of the city streets
were hampered and a good number of vehicles remained stuck up in
the knee-deep water as rain water submerged those thoroughfares
for hours that mounted the sufferings of city-dwellers manifolds.
Local met office also forecast that Chittagong and its
adjacent regions may experience more downpours in the next 24
hours.
Fire Service, Chittagong Metropolitan and district police
control room sources said they had not received any information
of rain related incidents including hill or mud collapse.
Officials of the Chittagong Port Authority said overall
operational activities of the country’s prime seaport remained
uninterrupted but unloading of bulk cargoes from vessels and
their delivery from sheds were hampered during heavy shower.
Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport’s traffic
control room sources said heavy shower did not affect its
scheduled flight operation excepting delay in arrival and
departure of some flights.
Rickshaw pullers and drivers of CNG-run auto-rickshaws were
seen demanding excess fare from the commuters taking advantages
of the bad weather and thin traffic.
Water logging turned worst in low-laying areas of the city
where clogged rainwater entered inside a large numbers of
residences and business establishments in Muradpur, Bahadderhat,
Chawkbazar, Bakalia, Halishahar, Chaktai, Patarghata , Agrabad
and Sholakbahar, Badurtola, and Sholoshahar.