Star Report

Thousands of people in flood-hit areas in the country’s northern and north-eastern regions are struggling with their livelihood as they have been left unemployed for weeks.

Some 54.60 lakh people of 10.18 lakh families have been affected in 163 upazilas of 33 districts since June last week, said a report of the Department of Disaster Management yesterday.

The flood situation would take another week to improve, it said.

Apart from distributing rice, the government has allocated Tk 4.18 crore for the flood victims. Of the amount, Tk 2.75 crore has already been disbursed, the report mentioned.

Meanwhile, some fresh areas around the capital have been inundated as water levels of the Buriganga and Dhaleswari have increased.

The areas include Kashipur, Narsinghpur, Boktaboli, Gopalnagar, and Enayetnagar in Narayanganj Sadar upazila. Some areas there have gone under knee-to-waist-deep water. Many people have taken shelter at flood centres or on other high grounds.

People of the areas are facing crisis of food and drinking water as tube-wells have been submerged.

“Everything inside our house have been inundated,” said Lucky Begum, of Uttar Narsinghpur area, adding that their semi-concrete building collapsed.