City drowns in record rain

A feeling of dread grips Masud Rana whenever he sees black clouds in Dhaka sky these days. The reason is obvious. A little rain means the same old story of misery, and it's hard to find a city dweller who doesn't share his fright.

Streets, lanes and by-lanes get submerged, public transports thin out and traffic stands still even after a moderate rainfall.

Yesterday, things were worse after about three hours of hard rain. 

Between 12:00 noon and 3:00pm, the Met office recorded 121mm of rain in Dhaka, the highest rainfall in three hours since 2003 when the Dhaka Met office first started to record hour-wise rainfall, said Bazlur Rashid, a meteorologist there.

Since 2003, the highest rain in three hours before yesterday was 96mm in 2010. 

"Heavy rain is normal this time of the year, but 121mm rain in such a short time is a record," Bazlur said about yesterday's downpour, adding that more rain was expected in the coming days.

As a result of such heavy rain, much of the capital quickly turned into a waterbody. On the waterlogged city streets, buses, private cars and three-wheelers came to a standstill for hours.

"I used to love rain. But now I've come to fear it because commuting on Dhaka streets after rain has become virtually impossible. This can't go on. I don't see any visible steps to solve the problem,” said Masud, who travels from Dhanmondi-27 to Gulshan-2 five days a week.

Experts have no new suggestions to offer. They say inadequate storm-water drainage system managed by seven different authorities with little coordination among themselves is the reason why Dhaka streets suffer deluge every time there is a moderate rain.

They do the job haphazardly and have little clue to what the other agencies are doing, they add.

In a well-managed network of storm drainage system, rainwater instantly runs into the low-lying retention areas. But, it takes hours for rainwater runoff if the network is faulty or destroyed, leading to immense public sufferings. As there was a heavy rainfall in a short time yesterday, things took a turn for the worse.

The worst-affected areas in the capital include Shantinagar, Khilgaon, Bashabo, Malibagh, Shantibagh, Rajarbagh, Mugda, Mohammadpur, Badda and different parts of Old Dhaka.

Source: thedailystar