After two days of relentless rain, life in Narayanganj city and surrounding areas has ground to a halt, with widespread waterlogging submerging streets and disrupting daily life for thousands.
The downpour, which began on Thursday morning and continued intermittently until Friday afternoon, inundated nearly all parts of the city.
The city’s main thoroughfares, including the vital BB Road, along with countless alleyways and residential areas, are now submerged in knee-deep water, creating a scenario that many residents are describing as an "urban flood."
A visit to key areas such as Chashara, Deobhog, Baburail, Khanpur, Banglabazar, and Nitaiganj on Friday afternoon painted a grim picture, rickshaws being pushed manually, and residents forced to walk through murky water to get home.
Monsoon Misery Looms: Dhaka braces for worsening waterlogging crisis
“I’ve been waiting for over an hour,” said one passenger stranded at Chashara intersection. “The rain has stopped, but the water isn't draining. There’s no rickshaw, and I’ve had to walk through dirty water just to get this far.”
Streets once bustling with rickshaws and motorbikes now lie eerily silent. Vehicles have stalled mid-road, battery-run auto-rickshaws have run out of charge, while commuters wade through stagnant street water to reach their destinations.
The impact has not been limited to transportation. Dirty, drain-fed water has seeped into many shops on ground floors of homes. In several areas, authorities were forced to cut off electricity supplies as a safety measure.
Battery-run rickshaw driver Sohel Mia of Deobhog, his vehicle half-submerged, lamented, “The battery’s gone. Water got inside, and I can’t even get back to the garage. Now I have to push it all the way.”
According to officials from the Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC), the situation is not new. Poor drainage infrastructure and unplanned urbanisation have turned even moderate rainfall into a public crisis.
“Most of the drains are clogged,” said an NCC official requesting anonymity. “People dumping waste directly into them only worsens the situation.”
However, efforts are underway to address the crisis. NCC has launched a project to construct a 7-kilometre-long drainage network, of which 3 kilometres have been completed.
The officials said, “Once finished, the new drains can significantly reduce waterlogging during monsoon.”
Meanwhile, NCC Administrator HM Kamruzzaman expressed regret over the public suffering and assured residents that “authorities are working to complete the drainage work as soon as possible.”
However, no definitive timeline has been given for when the situation might permanently improve.