The collapse of an embankment along the Mukteshwari River has triggered fresh flooding in at least five villages in Jashore’s Manirampur Upazila, compounding the suffering of nearly 100,000 people already stranded by prolonged waterlogging across the Bhobodoh region.
Locals warned that unless the damaged embankment is repaired quickly, floodwaters could spread to more villages in the coming days.
According to local sources, the No 3 embankment between the Mukteshwari River and Beel Kederia near Lakhaidanga village gave way after several days of heavy rainfall. Water from upstream has also failed to drain normally through the Bhobodoh sluice gate, worsening waterlogging across more than 50 villages.
The latest breach has inundated Panchakari, Balidah, Nehalpur, Lakhaidanga, Dighalia and Poradanga, while schools, roads and places of worship remain under water. Hundreds of fish farms have also been washed away, leaving thousands of families facing severe hardship.
The flooding has dealt a fresh blow to hopes of resolving the long-standing Bhobodoh waterlogging crisis. A river and canal dredging project covering 81.5 kilometres was launched at a cost of around Tk140 crore to improve drainage in the region.
Although the project raised expectations among local residents, renewed waterlogging during the current monsoon has undermined confidence, with the embankment collapse further aggravating the situation.
The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) said it had identified the causes of the drainage obstruction and began removing silt from the river on Sunday. Officials said water levels had started to recede before the embankment failure created a new threat.
According to officials, the Army-supervised dredging project began in October last year on the Harihar, Hari, Telegati, Upper Bhadra, Teka and Sri rivers. Around 20 kilometres of the Hari and Telegati rivers and about seven kilometres of the Teka River have already been dredged.
A visit to the Bhobodoh sluice gate found that its gates were not operating normally. Four pumps are currently being used to drain water, while installation of another five pumps is under way.
Officials said water flow has also been obstructed by silt accumulating over a stretch of about 500 to 600 metres upstream of a temporary dam built across the Telegati River at Khornia in Dumuria Upazila of Khulna to facilitate dredging work.
As a result, around 50 villages in Manirampur, Abhaynagar, Keshabpur and Dumuria upazilas have been fully or partially inundated. Prabhas Biswas, a teacher from Dumurtala village, said only six of the village’s 55 houses remained above water. “All the remaining houses have been flooded,” he said.
BWDB Executive Engineer Palash Banerjee said silt removal had been underway since Sunday in coordination with the Army after identifying the drainage obstruction. “We expect the situation to improve once the work is completed,” he said.
Iqbal Kabir Zahid, chief adviser to the Bhobodoh Water Movement Committee, said the renewed waterlogging despite extensive dredging demonstrated that excavation alone could not provide a lasting solution. “The only sustainable solution to the Bhobodoh problem is the implementation of Tidal River Management (TRM),” he said.
