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Office of the UN Resident Coordinator Flash Update No. 1 - Bangladesh | 2020 Severe Monsoon Floods, 18 July 2020

Países
Bangladesh
Fuentes
UN RC Bangladesh
Fecha de publicación

Situation Overview

July 18, 2020: Heavy monsoon rain and water from upstream sources caused slow-onset severe flooding in low lying areas of Northern Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) forecasts that water level will be above danger level for the next 5 days at Bahadurabad in Brahmaputra River. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF)’s forecasts for the 10 days show nearly 1000 mm accumulated rainfall over the catchment of Teesta, Dharala, Dudkumar and Brahmaputra.
Flood protection infrastructures such as embankments, dykes, dams and sluices are already damaged. many rivers, bank erosion has been observed and expected to be more severe when flood water starts receding. According to the forecasts, the current floods might be the most prolonged since 1988 and, it is unlikely that the water will start receding before next month.

According to National Disaster Response Coordination Center (NDRCC) report issued on July 17, 18 districts (Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Naogaon, Rangpur, Sirajganj, Bogra, Jamalpur, Tangail, Netrokona, Rajbari, Faridpur, Madaripur, Manikganj, Feni, Sunamganj, Sylhet) of Northern, NorthEastern and South-Eastern Bangladesh are most affected due to continuation of weeklong monsoon rains in the upstream regions and throughout the country. The flood situation is currently worsening in those districts where roads are cut off and hundreds of thousands of people are stranded. NDRCC preliminary report inform that 2.4 million people are affected in the 18 district and 548,816 families lost their houses. Similarly, as for the still on-going recovery response to Cyclone Amphan, the COVID-19 pandemic context put further challenges to disaster and recovery efforts in particular the respect of physical distancing measures and the fear of getting infected in emergency shelters.