Water has overflowed a dam at Horamondira Haor in Derai upazila of Sunamganj district. A deluge of upstream rain has led to rising water levels in local rivers and is putting other barricades in the area at risk.
The dam, set up by the Water Development Board at Noorpur Village in Jagdal Union, was breached on Sunday night.
The water level on the Old Surma River rose by 33 cm on Sunday night, said Md Zahurul Islam, executive engineer of the Sunamganj Water Development Board. The rising water level has increased the water pressure in Derai and Shalla and has put several dams in the area at risk as a result, he said.
“If the barricades are breached now, we won’t be able to conduct repair work due to the current natural conditions,” he said. “There isn’t enough soil in the area to bolster the dams and we are having difficulty getting labourers for the work. Bamboo, soil, and sacks are being used to shore up the barricades and we urge everyone to stay alert.”
For the past 17 days, farmers and the Sunamganj administration have been trying to save the crops grown in the district’s wetland areas from a surge in runoff from hill areas, reports bdnews24.com.
The water is causing dams to collapse and inundating farmland.
Dams burst in Tahirpur Upazila’s Tanguar Hoar and Gurmar Haor on Sunday, threatening crops.
Floods in early April breached a dam in Taherpur, flooding 25 hectares of paddy farmland.
Boro rice was being cultivated on 1,050 hectares of land in Horamondira Haor this season, said Sunam, said Bimal Chandra Shom, deputy director of the Sunamganj Department of Agricultural Extension.
“About 70 per cent of the farmland has been harvested,” he said. “Not all of the remaining crops will be ruined if the dams break, but some will.”
He urged farmers not to wait and harvest their rice as soon as possible.
Labhlu Ahmed, chairman of Jagdal union council, said: “Under the instruction of the administration, we have been working day and night for the past 15 days at every dam alongside farmers. But the way the water levels have risen for the past three to four days means that water may get into all the haors. We are advising farmers to harvest their rice.”