As floodwaters rise, water’s conductivity heightens the threat of electric shocks, and it can also compromise gas lines, leading to hazardous leaks and explosions. These situations demand effective and prompt preventive measures to protect flood victims. Let’s explore necessary actions for immediate safety and to prevent unforeseen accidents during floods. Safety Measures to Prevent Electric and Gas Hazards During Floods Turn Off Power and Gas Supply Immediately When flooding occurs, it is imperative to promptly deactivate the gas and main power supplies to mitigate serious accidents. Water's conductive properties significantly increase the risk of shocks and fires when it interacts with cables, wires, and equipment. To prevent these dangers, locate and turn off the gas valves and main power switch as soon as flooding begins. For those unfamiliar with the process, using insulated tools to handle switches and valves is crucial to avoid direct contact with water. If turning off these systems presents any challenge, evacuate the area and contact professionals for assistance. Immediate action in this regard is vital to safeguarding against electrical and gas-related accidents. Read More: Fixing Wet Phones: What to do if your phone falls into the water? Avoid Contact with Electrical Devices Unplugging all electric devices and appliances is vital amidst flooding to avert significant risks. Exposure to water can cause short circuits in equipment, increasing the likelihood of electric shocks and fires. It is critical to ensure that devices are disconnected from sources if they are wet or if there is standing water in the vicinity. In situations where unplugging electric connections or devices is not feasible, a safe distance from any equipment and avoiding its use should be maintained. This preventive measure helps minimize the potential adversities and ensures safety during and after flooding. Moving to an Elevated, Safe Location Waterlogged areas pose significant threats, including potential electric shocks from submerged sources and damage to gas lines. To avoid contact with water that may be electrically charged or contain dangerous materials, relocating to elevated areas is essential. Read more: Ways to Purify Water during Flood, Disaster, Emergency Situations Establishing a safe refuge in a higher location reduces exposure to immediate dangers. It also enhances overall safety by keeping away from potential accidents such as downed power lines or compromised infrastructure. It is important to assess the surroundings carefully and select a secure, elevated spot to ensure maximum protection from flood-related risks.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid today (October 27, 2022) said power supply situation may improve from November. “We hope the power supply situation will improve from November. I’m optimistic and don’t want to make you pessimistic,” he told reporters after attending a seminar on renewable energy at Dhaka’s Brac Inn Centre. Earlier in August, the state minister had said that power supply situation may improve from September, and later again said that load shedding would decrease from October. Read more: 2 weeks after grid failure, Ghorashal Power Station’s unit-5 resumes operation Following a national power grid failure on October 4, 2022, the electricity supply situation deteriorated – increasing load shedding to 5-6 hours every day. The government started implementing an austerity plan in July by suspending operations of all diesel-fired power plants to reduce fuel imports and save foreign currency. The import of LNG from the international spot market was also suspended for the same purpose, triggering frequent load shedding across the country. Referring to the request of businessmen to resume LNG imports from the international spot market and to ensure uninterrupted gas and electricity supply to factories at a higher price, Nasrul said the government is assessing all the options. Read No govt decision to stop the supply of daytime electricity: Hasan Mahmud “We’re working on it. Businessmen need uninterrupted gas supply at an affordable price,” he added. He also said that his ministry has sent a detailed proposal to Brunei on power supply situation and is now waiting for their response. It may take a week more to get a response from Brunei, he said.

Bangladesh State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said on Tuesday (October 25, 2022) that some 80 lakh (8 million) consumers remained without electricity across the country after Cyclone Sitrang hit Bangladesh. “Of this, some 60 lakh (6 million) are under the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) and the remaining consumers are of other organisations like Nesco and WZPDCO,” he told reporters at his ministry on Tuesday. He noted that power supply to 70 percent of the affected areas will be possible to restore by Tuesday evening while the rest 30 percent will get electricity by Wednesday afternoon. Read: Sitrang aftermath: Some areas in southern districts still without power Currently, the total power consumers are 4.8 crore (48 million) across the country. Nasrul Hamid said the power supply was disrupted mainly by the falling of trees on the transmission and distribution lines. He said that many electric poles were uprooted by the cyclone that caused blackout in many areas. The state minister, however, said the total damage was not calculated yet. Read: Inland water transport operations resume as Sitrang weakens “It will take some more time to get a complete picture of the damages caused by cyclone Sitrang”, he said.

Since the national power grid failure on October 4, 2022, Ghorashal Power Station could not resume operation in full capacity, a top official of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), has said. “Ghorashal Power Station may take one more week to resume electricity generation in full capacity,” he said, wishing not to be named. Read: As workweek starts, power supply situation in Dhaka worsens Bangladesh Power Development Board data shows the country’s power generation varies between 11,000 MW and 12,000 MW, following the national grid failure on October 4 – against a demand for about 14,000 MW. “As a result, we have to resort to about 2,000 MW of load shedding to manage the situation,” the BPDB official said. Read: National grid failure: Power Division forms 7-member probe body He also noted that power supply from Ghorashal station plays a major role in meeting demands in Dhaka city. “Until Ghorashal resumes operation in full swing, power supply situation in Dhaka is unlikely to improve,” he observed.

Power supply was restored across Bangladesh after seven hours of blackout following the national power grid failure on Tuesday.   Electricity was back in all the areas of Dhaka and other districts by 9pm, Badruddoza Sumon, public relations officer of Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), told UNB. Read: Power blackout triggers chaos in city fuel stations Power supply was restored in some parts of Dhaka city under Maniknagar and Hasnabad grid substations and also a good number of districts under Sylhet, Chattagram and Mymensingh by 7 pm, he added. He said the districts where power supply was fully restored by 7 pm include Tangail, Kishorganj, Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Manikganj, and all districts in Chattagram and Sylhet divisions. After the national power grid failed on Tuesday afternoon, power supply was restored in some Dhaka areas, including the president and prime minister’s official residences, around 5 pm. State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid had earlier hoped that power supply may fully be restored by 7 pm. National power transmission grid failed at 2:05 pm – causing blackouts across Bangladesh, except some parts of the north. Read: Power supply could be restored in Dhaka by 8pm, Ctg by 9pm: Palak According to officials at Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the transmission line tripped somewhere in the eastern part of the country, especially districts on the east of Jamuna river. Following the grid failure, all power plants tripped one after another and electricity supply went off in Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Barishal and Mymensingh divisions.

Power supply is likely to be restored in all areas of Dhaka city by 8pm, and in Chattogram by 9 pm today, ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak has said. National power transmission grid failed at 2:05pm today. The state minister shared the information on his verified Facebook page. Read: Power supply may fully be restored by 7pm today, Nasrul Hamid hopes Power supply has already been restored up to the Amin Bazar grid, he added. “Although a power grid trip takes one second, restoration is a long and complex process,” said Palak. Power grid engineers and technicians are working hard, he added, urging all to be patient without spreading rumours. The national power transmission grid failure caused blackout across Bangladesh, except some parts of the north. Read:National power grid failure: Blackout across Bangladesh According to officials at Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the transmission line tripped somewhere in the eastern part of the country, especially districts on the east of Jamuna river. Following the national power grid failure, all power plants tripped one after another and electricity supply went off in Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Barishal and Mymensingh divisions.

After the national power grid failure earlier today, power supply was restored in some Dhaka areas, including president and prime minister’s official residences, around 5 pm today. “We have already restored power supply in Bangabhaban and Ganobhaban, and also some parts in Mirpur and other Dhaka areas,” State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told UNB.  Read:National grid failure: Telecom services may be disrupted He said officials of the power companies are working hard to restore power supply all over Bangladesh.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has claimed that the power supply situation has been better in the current month than that in the previous month. “The power supply situation will further improve in the next month….the situation in energy supply will also improve”, he told a virtual discussion meeting organized by Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to observe the 15th August National Mourning Day on Saturday. He said the Russia-Ukraine war made the global economic situation vulnerable. It created huge uncertainty in the global energy market.  With BPDB chairman Mahbubur Rahman in the chair, the event was also addressed by former principal secretary to the Prime Minister  Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury and power secretary Habibur Rahman. Reiterating his call to the people to be more patient to face the power and energy crunch, the Nasrul said Bangladesh will become a rich country under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He mentioned that there was 16-18 hours of load shedding across the country before Awami League assumed power in 2009. Read: Govt to slash fuel price when it goes down globally: Nasrul Hamid From that situation, the PM implemented a programme to reach electricity to every house in Bangladesh, he added. He said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proved his great leadership by purchasing five gas fields from Shell Oil Company which now meet 40 per cent of the country’s total gas requirement.   He made the right to electricity as part of the constitution to ensure that people in rural areas get electricity.  

Most of the distribution entities in power supply have to shed load more than their target as they receive lower amounts of electricity from the generation end. Officials of the power distribution companies said they have been publishing their respective schedules of power cuts in their areas in advance as per the directives of the government, but failed to maintain those due to the lower supply. According to official sources, the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) had planned to carry out a load shedding of 115 MW to serve its peak demand of about 1600 MW. Also read: DPDC, Desco publish Thursday's load shedding schedules “But we had to go for 135 MW power cuts on Thursday instead of the planned 115 MW”, said Bikash Dewan, managing director of the DPDC. He informed that he had to increase the amount of load shedding due to a lower supply received from the generation end. He also noted that the areas under DPDC normally consume power between 1500 MW-1600 MW during the summer. “If weather remains relatively favourable with lower heat waves, the demands slightly drop”, he told UNB. DPDC supplies electricity to south-west, south-east and central parts of Dhaka city and also a part of Narayanganj. The situation is relatively worse in the areas under the Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (Desco) as the entity had to go for the double amount of load shedding that it plans. “The Desco had to go for 180 MW of load shedding against a target of only 80 MW on Thursday”, said Kausar Ameer Ali, managing director of the company. He, however, informed that Desco has to serve the peak load during the day hour as its consumers are mainly household and commercial. Desco supplies electricity to the north, north-west and north-east parts of Dhaka city and also a part of Tongi area under Gazipur district. Also read: Country experiences 1915 MW load shedding on Tuesday The consumers in other distribution entities including Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board, West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDC), and Northern Electricity Supply Company Limited (Nesco) are facing almost similar conditions in power supply as they have to experience load shedding beyond their schedules. The official data of the BPDB shows that the country’s generation was forecasted to be 12,570 MW against a demand of 14,200 MW with a shortage of 1,630 MW. The load shedding for Thursday was projected to 1,365 MW to cover the gap between demand and supply. But most of the officials and energy experts do not have trust in the official figure as they believe the demand is more than the projected one which was shown in a suppressed way. Meanwhile, the Power Division held a meeting of the top executives of the power generation and distribution entities with power secretary Habibur Rahman in the chair on Thursday. The meeting discussed the overall situation and took a number of steps to implement the decisions of the government in regard to saving electricity. The meeting asked the power distribution entities to inform their consumers about the load shedding schedules.

Bangladesh and the World Bank on Wednesday signed a $515 million financing agreement to help nine million people get access to reliable power supply while transitioning to clean energy. The agreement was signed by Economic Relations Division secretary Fatima Yasmin and Acting World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, Dandan Chen, on behalf of the Bangladesh government and the World Bank, respectively.  Read: WB okays $1.03 billion to help improve regional trade in Bangladesh, Nepal The agreement includes a $15 million grant from the Clean Technology Fund to support Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).  The credit is from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), and has a 35-year term, including a five-year grace period.  The Electricity Distribution Modernization Program will support the digitisation and modernisation of 25 Palli Bidyut Samitis in Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions and reduce system losses by over 2 percent.  The Program will increase Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board’s (BREB) delivery of power by 6,790 GW while improving climate resilience of the system, according to a release. 'The Program is aligned with the government’s Integrated Energy and Power Sector Master Plan, currently under preparation, which will help establish a low carbon energy system,” said secretary Fatima. She said that generating clean and reliable power can help rural communities to increase productivity and cope with events brought on by climate change. “The government of Bangladesh has prioritised access to power in the last decade and now the entire population has access to power. The installed generation capacity increased five-fold to 25 GW in the same period,” Chen said.  Through this Program, new and emerging technologies will further strengthen the efficiency and reliability of power supply in the country to meet the needs for faster economic growth, he added. The Program will support solar metering connections for over 100 customers, bringing 150 MW of new rooftop solar capacity into the grid.  Read: WB approves $120 mln loan to develop climate smart agriculture, water management It will improve and construct 31,000 kms of distribution lines and deploy 200,000 advanced meters, the release said. In addition, the Program will help strengthen BESS and distributed renewable energy through preparation of road maps for deployment.  This would lead to an annual reduction of carbon emissions by 41,400 metric tonnes.