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Summary:
Disaster Situation Starting from mid-August 2014, Bangladesh saw several rounds of flooding. Heavy rains in the main river basins and upstream catchments of India, along with continuous rainfall in northwest and north-eastern parts of Bangladesh caused a continuously worsening flooding situation in low-lying districts, particularly those clustered around the north-west (Lalmonirhat, Kurigram,
Nilphamari, Rangpur, Gaibandha, Bogra, Serajganj, Jamalpur, and Sherpur). This was followed by heavy rain induced flooding in Sunamganj, Sylhet and Netrokona in the North-east of the country and, later on, in districts in the centre of the country (Munshiganj, Tangail, Faridpur, Manikganj, Rajbari). The districts in the South (Bhola, Patuakhali, Barguna) had experienced floods since July, while districts like Feni and Chittagong had been waterlogged around the same time for several days due to heavy rains.
As per government reports, more than half a million families (2.8 million people) were affected, with 57,000 families (275,000 people) displaced. The affected include more than 33,000 families (160,000 people) whose homes were totally inundated or destroyed. An additional 235,000 houses were reported damaged. The flooding of 2014 has been described as the worst event hitting the country since the ‘mega floods’ in 2007. The recovery needs will be significant as the flood waters have damaged crops and farmland and disrupted farming practices and labour opportunities.
In September 2014, additional flooding hit several districts in the country affecting 400,000 more people and increasing and prolonging the sufferings of the people already affected by floods in August. Flash floods triggered by heavy rain and water from upstream hill areas across the border inundated vast areas in Bogra and Kurigram districts, while Jamalpur town protection embankment developed breach under pressure of rainwater. The heavy currents of flash floods gushing from Meghalaya of India caused rapid inundation of Netrokona. Widespread flooding has also hit Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha,
Naogaon, Brahmanbaria, and Mymensing leaving hundreds of thousands marooned, damaging houses, roads and embankments. Farmers who had replanted Aman paddy after the water started receding lost their crops for the second time as more than 10,000 acres of crops were inundated. More than six hundred schools in the affected districts were closed for several weeks following the flooding.