flooding
Bangabandhu satellite-1 to be used to restore telecommunication in flood-hit areas
The government has started the connection work of Bangabandhu Satellite-1 to keep telecommunication and internet services active in the flood affected areas on Sunday.
Bangladesh Satellite Company Limited (BSCL) has set up a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) Hub in Sylhet Hi-Tech Park following the directives of Post and Telecommunication Minister Mustafa Jabbar.
To ensure telecommunication services in the flood-affected areas of Sylhet and Sunamganj districts, 12 VSAT equipment were handed over to the Bangladesh Army on Saturday. VSAT hubs will be set up in Netrokona and North Bengal today.
Read: Floods: India extends "support, solidarity" to Bangladesh
Besides, preparations are underway to hand over 23 more sets of VSAT equipment to the Sylhet Divisional Commissioner office.
Bangabandhu Satellite-1 will also be able to activate the mobile phone network as per the requirement of mobile phone operators.
The Post and Telecommunications Division has also launched 12 toll-free helpline numbers for the flood-affected people.
The toll free numbers are- Grameenphone -01769177266, 01769177267, 01769177268, Robi- 01852788000, 01852798800, 01852804477, Banglalink- 01987781144, 01993781144, 01995781144, and Teletalk- 01513918096, 01513918097, 01513918098.
Flooding to get worse as more rainfall headed for key region
The flood situation in Sylhet, Sunamganj, and Netrokona districts may further deteriorate in the next 24 hours, according to the Flood Forecasting & Warning Centre's latest bulletin.
According to the forecast circulated Saturday afternoon, water levels in all major rivers of the country continued rising, except the Surma in Sylhet - although may just have been due to being way over the red mark already.
Another transboundary river that was flowing way past its danger mark, the Teesta, may also normalise a bit, remaining near or slightly above its danger mark in the next 24 hours.
Read: No respite from flood onslaught in north-eastern districts
As a result, the flood condition may deteriorate in the low-lying areas of Kurigram, Gaibandha, Bogura, Sirajganj, Jamalpur, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, and Rangpur districts.
As important as the forecast for Bangladesh, medium to heavy and even very heavy rainfall is predicted in the north-eastern region of India, over parts of Assam, Meghalaya, and the Sub-Himalayan parts of West Bengal, in the next 72 hours.
Climate-driven flooding poses well water contamination risks
After a record-setting Midwestern rainstorm that damaged thousands of homes and businesses, Stefanie Johnson’s farmhouse in Blandinsville, Illinois, didn’t have safe drinking water for nearly two months.
Flood water poured into her well, turning the water a muddy brown and forcing Johnson, her husband and their two young children to use store-bought supplies. Even after sediment cleared, testing found bacteria — including E. coli, which can cause diarrhea. The family boiled water for drinking and cooking. The YMCA was a refuge for showers.
“I was pretty strict with the kids,” said Johnson, who works with a private well protection program at the local health department. “I’d pour bottled water on their toothbrushes.”
Though estimates vary, roughly 53 million U.S. residents — about 17% of the population — rely on private wells, according to a study conducted in part by Environmental Protection Agency researchers. Most live in rural areas. But others are in subdivisions near fast-growing metro regions or otherwise beyond the reach of public water pipes.
While many private wells provide safe water, the absence of regulation and treatment afforded by larger municipal systems may expose some users to health risks, from bacteria and viruses to chemicals and lead, studies have found.
Risks are elevated after flooding or heavy rainfall, when animal and human feces, dirt, nutrients such as nitrogen and other contaminants can seep into wells. And experts say the threat is growing as the warming climate fuels more intense rainstorms and stronger and wetter hurricanes.
Also Read: 37 dead in heavy rains in Brazil
“Areas that hadn’t been impacted are now. New areas are getting flooded,” said Kelsey Pieper, a Northeastern University professor of environmental engineering. “We know the environment is shifting and we’re playing catch-up, trying to increase awareness.”
Pieper is among scientists conducting well testing and education programs in storm-prone areas. After Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding along the Texas coast in 2017, sampling of more than 8,800 wells in 44 counties found average E. coli levels nearly three times higher than normal, she said.
Sampling of 108 wells in Mississippi following Hurricane Ida in 2021 produced a similar bump in E. coli readings. Other studies turned up higher levels in North Carolina after Hurricane Florence in 2018.
The following year, above-average snowfall and a March storm unleashed flooding in Nebraska. Levees and dams were breached. Fremont, a city of more than 25,000, turned into an island when the nearby Platte and Elkhorn rivers overflowed.
The municipal system continued to supply drinking water but some nearby private wells were damaged or contaminated. Julie Hindmarsh’s farm was flooded for three days, and it took months to make the well water drinkable again. At times, the cleanup crew wore protective suits.
“They didn’t know what was in that floodwater,” she said.
Read: Diarrhoea breaks out in flood-hit Sylhet
CONTAMINATION RISK
Groundwater is often a cleaner source than surface supplies because soil can provide a protective buffer, said Heather Murphy, an epidemiologist at the University of Guelph in Canada. But she said that can give well owners a false sense of security, leading them to forgo testing, maintenance and treatment.
“There’s a big misconception that it’s underground, therefore it’s safe,” said Murphy, who estimates 1.3 million cases of acute gastrointestinal illness in the U.S. are caused annually by drinking untreated water from private wells.
Old, poorly maintained wells are especially vulnerable to floodwaters entering through openings at the top. “It just runs right in and it’s full of bacteria,” said Steven Wilson, a well expert at the University of Illinois.
It doesn’t always take a flood or hurricane to pollute wells. Industrial contamination can reach them by seeping into groundwater.
Around 1,000 residential wells in Michigan’s Kent County were tainted for decades with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in landfill sludge from footwear company Wolverine World Wide. The pollution, discovered in 2017, spurred lawsuits and a $69.5 million settlement with the state that extended city water lines to affected houses.
“We thought we were getting this pristine, straight-from-nature water and it would be much better for us,” said Sandy Wynn-Stelt, who has lived across from one of the dump sites since the early 1990s.
She said tests detected high levels of PFAS chemicals in her water and blood, leaving her fearful to drink or even brush her teeth with well water. In a suit later settled, she blamed the contamination for her husband’s 2016 death from liver cancer. She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer four years later.
LITTLE REGULATION FOR WELL OWNERS
While many well owners don’t have the option of hooking up to a public water system, others are happy with well water. They might favor the taste or want to avoid monthly bills and government regulation.
“What I hear from people is freedom,” said Jesse Campbell, private well coordinator for the Midwest Assistance Program Inc., which addresses rural water needs.
Private well owners are responsible for them. While public water systems must meet federal safety standards, those rules don’t apply to wells that have fewer than 15 connections or serve fewer than 25 people.
State and local standards usually involve only construction and design, although some states set tougher rules.
New Jersey requires water quality testing before sales of property with private wells. Rhode Island requires testing when new wells are built and when property with a well is sold.
But many states rely on public outreach and voluntary action to protect private well users.
“There’s an overall lack of education,” Campbell said. He meets with well owners from Montana to Missouri, providing free inspections and advice.
A lot of harm can be prevented if owners make sure the well’s top keeps out debris and that the pump is turned off before a storm to keep out floodwaters. Experts recommend testing after a flood and decontaminating wells with chlorine if a problem is found.
“People aren’t regularly testing,” said Riley Mulhern, an environmental engineer at the research group RTI International.
Indiana’s health department offers testing for bacteria, lead, copper, fluoride and other contaminants. Some land-grant universities and private labs provide similar services.
While many owners know how to maintain their wells, others ignore problems even if the water isn’t sanitary. Water that tastes fine can still be contaminated.
“I wish I had a nickel for everyone who’s walked into a workshop and said, ‘I’ve been drinking this water forever and it’s fine,’” said Jason Barrett, who directs a Mississippi State University program that educates well owners.
It provides free testing. But where such assistance isn’t available, costs can run to a few hundred dollars, according to experts. Some owners avoid testing because they are concerned it will reveal an expensive problem.
Johnson, the Illinois resident whose well was fouled by the 2013 downpour that killed four people and caused $465 million in flood damage, paid about $3,500 for repairs and upgrades.
“Luckily, none of us became ill,” she said.
Even ordinary rainstorms can carry diseases into groundwater, said Mark Borchardt, a microbiologist formerly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“A lot of times people say, ‘Well, no one got sick,’” Borchardt said. “It’s hard to see when people get sick unless it is a huge outbreak.”
Bea and Neil Jobe live in Primm Springs, Tennessee, an hour’s drive from Nashville. Several times a year, when there is heavy rain and a nearby creek floods, their well water turns “dingy,” Bea Jobe said.
The discoloration disappears after a few days but Jobe takes precautions such as keeping bottled water available.
“I guess I’m used to it,” she said.
Sylhet schools shut due to flooding
Hundreds of students have been hit hard as flooding forced authorities to close educational institutions in Sylhet district.
According to the district primary education office, floodwaters have entered some 550 educational institutions in the district.
Also read:No improvement in Sylhet's flood situation
Besides, 200 educational institutions have been designated as shelters for the flood-hit residents of the district, forcing students to stay away from their academic activities.
All the rivers of the district are full to the brim due to the onrush of hilly waters from the upstream and incessant rains over the past several days, according to officials.
The low-lying areas of the district have already been flooded, rendering nearly one lakh people marooned.
There are 1,477 primary schools in the district and 400 schools were affected till Wednesday. Goainghat, Kanaighat, Jointapur, Jakiganj and Companiganj upazilas are the worst hit.
District education officer Shakhawat Ershad feared that new areas in the district could be flooded soon due to the rise in water levels of all the rivers in the district.
Besides, sources said that 150 secondary schools and madrasas have been inundated due to flooding.
Flood situation in Sylhet
The overall flood situation in Sylhet district worsened further Thursday morning, with some rivers still flowing above the danger level due to the onrush of hilly waters from India.
Although the showers have subsided in the district in the last two days, the water levels in rivers and haors of Sylhet rose two more inches due to the onrush this morning.
According to the administration, at least 30 areas of Sylhet city have been flooded.
Also read: Flood situation worsens in Sylhet; low-lying areas in city inundated
The flood situation has also worse in 13 upazilas of the district -- Companiganj, Gowainghat, Kanaighat, Zakiganj, Jaintapur and Sylhet Sadar upazilas to name a few.
The floods have affected 20 lakh people in Sylhet district and city.
Meanwhile, the floods have triggered power cuts in different upazilas and Sylhet city, hitting hard some 11.5 lakh consumers of Bangladesh Power Development Board and Palli Bidyut Samiti.
Blizzard buffets East Coast with deep snow, winds, flooding
A nor’easter with hurricane-force wind gusts battered much of the East Coast on Saturday, flinging heavy snow that made travel treacherous or impossible, flooding coastlines, and threatening to leave bitter cold in its wake.
The storm thrashed parts of 10 states, with blizzard warnings that stretched from Virginia to Maine. Philadelphia and New York saw plenty of wind and snow, but Boston was in the crosshairs. The city could get more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow by the time it moves out early Sunday.
Winds gusted as high as 83 mph (134 kph) on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. More than 22 inches (45 centimeters) of snow had fallen by midafternoon on part of Long Island, and Bayville, New Jersey, had 19 inches (48 centimeters).
The wind scoured the ground bare in some spots and piled the snow into huge drifts in others.
Forecasters watched closely for new snowfall records, especially in Boston, where the heaviest snow was expected later Saturday. The Boston area’s modern snowfall record is 27.6 inches, set in 2003.
New York City and Philadelphia were far from setting all-time records but still saw significant snowfall, with at least 7.5 inches (19 centimeters) in New York’s Central Park and at the Philadelphia airport.
Many flights at airports serving New York, Boston and Philadelphia were canceled Saturday, according to FlightAware. More than 4,500 flights were canceled across the U.S., though airports in the Northeast didn’t report evidence of mass strandings, given that the storm was anticipated and many airlines called off flights in advance.
Amtrak canceled all its high-speed Acela trains on the busy Boston-to-Washington corridor and canceled or limited other service.
In suburban Boston, a bundled-up Nicky Brown, 34, stood at the doors of Gordon’s liquor store in Waltham, waiting for it to open.
“My boyfriend is out driving a plow, and I had a bunch of cleaning to do at home, and I want a drink while I’m doing it,” she said, as she called the store to find out if it planned to open at all. “It’s a good day to stay inside and clean.”
Video on social media showed wind and waves battering North Weymouth, south of Boston, flooding streets with a slurry of frigid water. Other video showed a street underwater on Nantucket and waves crashing against the windows of a building in Plymouth.
Over 120,000 homes and businesses lost power in Massachusetts, with failures mounting. No other states reported widespread outages.
Climate change, particularly the warming ocean, probably influenced the strength of the storm, atmospheric researchers said.
Much warmer ocean waters “are certainly playing a role in the strengthening of the storm system and increased moisture available for the storm,” said University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado. “But it isn’t the only thing.”
The storm had two saving graces: Dry snow less capable of snapping trees and tearing down power lines, and its timing on a weekend, when schools were closed and few people were commuting.
Parts of 10 states were under blizzard warnings at some point: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, along with much of the Delmarva Peninsula in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.The National Weather Service considers a storm a blizzard if it meets the following conditions: It has snowfall or blowing snow and winds of at least 35 mph (56 kph) that reduce visibility to a quarter-mile or less for at least three hours. In many areas, Saturday’s storm met those criteria.
Rhode Island, all of which was under a blizzard warning, banned all nonemergency road travel.
In West Hartford, Connecticut, a tractor-trailer jackknifed on Interstate 84, closing several lanes. Massachusetts banned heavy trucks from interstate highways.
READ: Cold kills 22 stuck in cars in heavy snow at Pakistan resort
Ocean City, Maryland, recorded at least a foot (30 centimeters) of snow. Maryland State Police tweeted that troopers had received more than 670 calls for service and responded to over 90 crashes by midmorning.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul advised people to stay home and warned of below-zero windchills after the storm passes. The state had declared a state of emergency Friday evening.
“This is a very serious storm, very serious. We’ve been preparing for this. This could be life-threatening,” Hochul said. “It’s high winds, heavy snow, blizzard conditions — all the elements of a classic nor’easter.”
Police on Long Island said they had to help motorists stuck in the snow. In Philadelphia, few drivers ventured onto streets covered in knee-high drifts.
Hardy New Englanders took the storm in stride.
Dave McGillivray, race director for the Boston Marathon, jokingly invited the public to his suburban Boston home on Saturday for a free snow-shoveling clinic.
“I will provide the driveway and multiple walkways to ensure your training is conducted in the most lifelike situation,” he said.
READ: Major storm dumps snow, closes mountain routes in California
Washington and Baltimore got some snow but were largely spared. The worst of the nor’easter was expected to blow by Sunday morning into Canada, where several provinces were under warnings.
Flooding in central China turns streets to rivers, kills 12
At least 12 people died in severe flooding Tuesday in a Chinese provincial capital that trapped people in subways and schools, washed away vehicles and stranded people in their workplaces overnight.
The already drenched city of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, was hit by 20 centimeters (8 inches) of rain from 4 to 5 p.m., the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Henan weather agency.
The torrent of rain turned streets into rapidly flowing rivers and inundated subways stations and cars. Videos posted online showed entire neighborhoods covered in waist-deep water and vehicles floating in the muddy mire.
Also read: Europe flooding toll over 180 as rescuers dig deeper
To the north of Zhengzhou, the famed Shaolin Temple known for its Buddhist monks’ mastery of martial arts was badly hit. Henan province is home to many cultural sites and a major base for industry and agriculture.
Xinhua said 12 people had died and 100,000 people had been moved to safer places.
Stranded people were spending the night in their workplaces or checked into hotels.
Wang Guirong, a 56-year-old restaurant manager, said she planned to sleep on the couch in her restaurant after being told there was no power in her neighborhood. The State Grid Zhengzhou Power Supply Co. said a downtown substation was forced to shut down because of the rain.
“I have lived in Zhengzhou all my life and have never seen such a heavy rainstorm as today,” Wang said.
Also read: 19 dead, dozens missing in Germany floods; 2 die in Belgium
China experiences regular flooding during the summer, but the growth of cities and conversion of farmland into subdivisions has raised the impact of such events.
Tropical Storm Elsa nears Cuba amid fears of flooding
Cuba prepared to evacuate people along the island’s southern region on Sunday amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people.
The government opened shelters and moved to protect sugarcane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm, whose next target was Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.
Elsa was located about 175 miles (280 kilometers) east-southeast of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and was speeding west-northwest at 17 mph (28 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The storm killed one person in St. Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center.
Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane up until Saturday morning, causing widespread damage in several eastern Caribbean islands on Friday as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. Among the hardest hit was Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, including 62 homes that completely collapsed as the government promised to find and fund temporary housing to avoid clustering people in shelters amid the pandemic.
Also Read: How Cyclone Yaas was named
Downed trees also were reported in Haiti, which is especially vulnerable to floods and landslides because of widespread erosion and deforestation.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for Jamaica and from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince to the southern border with the Dominican Republic. A hurricane watch was issued for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Las Tunas, and Santiago de Cuba. Some of those provinces have reported a high number of COVID-19 infections, raising concerns that the storm could force large groups of people to seek shelter together.
Read Khulna preparing for cyclone Yash
Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record and also broke the record as the tropic’s fastest-moving hurricane, clocking in at 31 mph on Saturday morning, according to Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.
Also Read: Cyclone Yaas: Maritime ports in Bangladesh asked to hoist signal no 2
It is forecast to drop 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain with maximum totals of 15 inches (38 centimeters) across portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica.
Typhoon unleashes rain, strong winds in southern Japan
The second powerful typhoon to slam Japan in a week unleashed fierce winds and rain on southern islands on Sunday, blowing off rooftops and leaving homes without power as it edged northward into an area vulnerable to flooding and mudslides.
77 killed in floods and landslides in India's Assam state
With the death of six more people in floods and mudslides in northeastern India's Assam state, the death toll has been climbed to 77 till Tuesday.
Thousands stand threatened by flooding in Kurigram
Kurigram, Aug 22 (UNB) – Panic has spread among thousands of people living near the banks of rivers as some 25 kilometres of the 210km flood control embankment was washed away in the last three years.