A spell of heavy rain in the early morning has left many streets in the capital waterlogged, causing suffering to commuters.
Commuters were seen to wade through ankle to knee-deep water with umbrellas in hand to reach their destinations in the morning.
A Met office bulletin issued for the next six hours from 7 am on Monday stated that 40 mm of rainfall was recorded in the past 24 hours in Dhaka and its surrounding areas.
It also forecast that the sky may remain cloudy during this period and the daytime temperatures expected to drop slightly.
The heavy rain began around 6 amand lasted until 7:00 am, flooding many streets including those in Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Kalabagan, Karwan Bazar, Green Road, Manipuri Para, New Market, Mouchak, Malibagh ,Asad Gate, and Jigatola.
Dhaka’s air turns 'unhealthy for sensitive groups' this morning
Despite the suffering caused by waterlogging, residents of Dhaka found some relief as the city’s air quality showed a remarkable improvement this morning.
At 9:15 am, Dhaka recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) score of 22, which falls in the “good” category. AQI values between 0 and 50 are considered healthy.
Meanwhile, Lahore topped Monday’s list of polluted cities with an AQI score of 168, followed by Kolkata at 163 and Jakarta at 140.
When the AQI value for particle pollution is between 50 and 100, air quality is considered ‘moderate’, usually sensitive individuals should consider limiting prolonged outdoor exertion, between 101 and 150, air quality is considered ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’, between 150 and 200 is ‘unhealthy’, between 201 and 300 is said to be 'very unhealthy', while a reading of 301+ is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents.
Pakistan’s Lahore, India’s Kolkata and Indonesia’s Jakarta cities respectively occupied the first, third and fourth spots on the list, with AQI scores of 169, 163, and 140 respectively.
The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.
The AQI in Bangladesh is based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and ozone.
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.