Report Writing on Rain Causes Water Logging

Rain Causes Water Logging, Traffic Chaos in Dhaka

Staff Reporter, Dhaka, July 5, 2018: Excessive rainfall triggered a massive water logging which has crippled life in several areas of Dhaka city. Low-lying areas like Motijeel,Dhaka, Farmgate, and Rup Nagar remain waterlogged with knee-deep water flowing at several places. The worst-affected lanes in these areas are the ones located near the telephone exchange. Even the manholes in these areas remain choked. The floods and prolonged water-logging have caused significant displacement presenting humanitarian challenges in safe water supply, sanitation, shelter and food security. It also damages dwelling houses, roads, educational institutions and so on. Commuters faced severe problems in reaching their destinations due to a lack of transport. City residents were seen stranded for hours in the traffic jam. Those who were able to obtain transport faced further problems, as rickshaw pullers and CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers charged excessive fares, taking advantage of the inclement weather. Low-income residents, especially day labourers, suffered much as well since the rains disrupted their normal pace of life.

Efforts to drain out rain water from these localities have proved futile. It is known to all that the root cause of water logging is faulty drainage system.   Large-scale use of polythene bags and ceaseless dumping of garbage by the people into storm sewers have chocked the outlets in many places. Shortage of fund, skilled manpower and lack of proper planning are responsible for the prevailing situation. Government of Bangladesh, the UN agencies and NGOs conducted assessments of the situation from various scopes and recommended a number of long and short-term actions. They suggest improving it as well as recovering the canals and water bodies around Dhaka to get rid of the floodwaters. According to officials, the PMC engineering wing had recently taken an initiative to remove water logging from different parts of the city.