Heavy and torrential rains since Friday morning have inundated the main roads and lanes in Chandpur town, causing suffering to commuters and disrupting normal life. Locals the waterlogging was created due to faulty drainage, making it almost impossible to move. Roads are devoid of vehicles, and people are largely staying indoors unless absolutely necessary. Incessant rains throw life out of gear in Dhaka Vikas Ghosh, a vendor selling fermented milk drink near Court Station are, expressed his frustration, saying, "I have been here since 6 am with my drinks, but by 9 am, I haven't sold anything. There are no people around."

Rain, a wonderful blessing of mother nature, helps plants grow, fills up the rivers, and keeps the world green and liveable. However, transforming into a powerful storm, heavy rain can bring lightning, thundershowers, and strong winds, which can cause damages to lives and properties. So, understanding how to be safe during and after heavy rains is essential. This article provides a significant to-do list, carrying some practical steps. Let's dive into exploring ways to reduce the risks during heavy rainfall. Safety Tips during Heavy Rains and Thundershowers Things to do while Driving Turn on Headlights Rain can make it hard for other drivers to see the car. Turning on headlights increases visibility, reducing the risk of accidents. Don't Attempt to Drive across a Flooded Area During heavy rains, many roads face water logging. The depth of water can be hard to guess. The gathered water may also hide potholes and electrical wires. Therefore, driving through flooded areas can be risky. Read more: Ways to Purify Water during Flood, Disaster, Emergency Situations Reduce Speed Slowly Wet roads can make tires lose contact with the road surface, a phenomenon known as hydroplaning. To avoid this, vehicles should maintain slower speeds during heavy rain. Choose Safe Parking Spots While parking a vehicle, avoid places under power lines, trees, or next to utility poles. These areas can pose risks during heavy rains, like falling branches and debris. Avoid Driving in Heavy Rain Poor visibility during heavy rainfall makes driving risky. If possible, drivers should park the vehicle and wait until the rain has slowed down or stopped before continuing the journey. Read more: Fire Safety in Apartments: Causes and Prevention

Heavy rain caused flooding and landslides that have killed 36 people in Brazil’s north Sao Paulo state, officials said Sunday, and the fatalities could rise. Sao Paulo state government said in a statement that 35 died in the city of Sao Sebastiao and a 7-year-old girl was killed in neighboring Ubatuba. The cities of Sao Sebastiao, Ubatuba, Ilhabela and Bertioga, some of the hardest hit and now under state of calamity, canceled their Carnival festivities as rescue teams struggle to find missing, injured and feared dead in the rubble. “Our rescue teams are not managing to get to several locations; it is a chaotic situation,” said Felipe Augusto, the mayor of Sao Sebastiao. Later, he added there are dozens of people missing and that 50 houses collapsed in the city due to the landslides. Augusto posted on social media several videos of widespread destruction in his city, including one of baby being rescued by locals lined up on a flooded street. Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Twitter he will visit the region Monday. Sao Paulo state government said in a statement that precipitation in the region has surpassed 600 millimeters (23.6 inches) in one day, one of the highest amounts ever in Brazil in such a short period. Also Read: Bolsonaro says he may return to Brazil in the coming weeks Bertioga alone had 687 millimeters during that period, the state government said. Gov. Tarcisio de Freitas said in a statement he requested support from the army, which sent two airplanes and rescue teams to the region. TV footage showed houses flooded with only the roof visible. Residents are using small boats to carry items and people to higher positions. A road that connects Rio de Janeiro to the port city of Santos was blocked by landslides and floodwaters. The northern coast of Sao Paulo state is a frequent Carnival destination for wealthy tourists who prefer to stay away from massive street parties in big cities.

Authorities have prepared more than 1,000 cycone shelters to evacuate people while all fishing boats and trawlers over North Bay and deep sea have been asked to remain anchored until further notice as Cyclone Sitrang is expected to cross southern Bangladeshi coast by early Tuesday. The Bay of Bengal will remain very rough near the eye of the cyclone, the weather office said on Monday morning. According to the latest bulletin of Bangladesh Meteorological Department, Sitrang may make landfall near Khepupara along Barishal-Chittagong coast, and because of the impact of the cyclone heavy rains would continue to lash the country. Read: ‘Sitrang’ may hit a 730 km area in Bangladesh on Oct 25: State Minister Authorities in Chattogram and other hilly districts warned that landslides could destroy homes and kill people if incessant rains continue. UNB correspondents from across southern coastal region reported heavy rains since morning.

Heavy summer rains pouring since Friday morning inundated parts of Kurigram district damaging ready-to-harvest paddy crops in fields the district. The local Met office recorded 126 mm of rain in five hours this morning. As a result, Boro crops on hundreds of bighas of land got inundated. According to the Kurigram Agriculture Extension Department, Boro has been planted in 1 lakh 16 thousand hectares of land in the district this year. Read: Rivers in Sylhet and Sunamganj in spate after heavy rains Shahidul Islam, a farmer from Kanchichar area of Sadar's Panchgachhi union, said, he cultivated boro paddy on 2 bighas of land." The yield was also very good and the paddy is ripe. But half of his paddy land has been submerged in rainwater, he added. Sabur Hossain, officer-in-charge of Rajarhat Meteorological Observatory in Kurigram, said 126 mm of rainfall was recorded in Kurigram on Friday morning. The Met office forecast heavy rain with gusty winds in different parts of Rangpur division in the next 24 hours.   End/UNB/Corr/SIS/F 2317

Parts of Australia’s third-most populous city Brisbane were under water Monday after heavy rain brought record flooding to some east coast areas and killed seven people. The flooding in Brisbane and its surrounds is the worst since 2011 when the city of 2.6 million people was inundated by what was described as a once-in-a-century event. READ: Australia to open borders to vaccinated travelers on Feb. 21 A 59-year-old man drowned in Brisbane’s north on Sunday afternoon after he tried to cross a flooded creek on foot and was pinned against a fence, Queensland state police said on Monday. Queensland emergency services warned life-threatening flash flooding was occurring south of Brisbane in parts of Gold Coast city. Residents were advised to shelter where they were unless it is unsafe to do so. Access to many areas was cut in multiple places, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said in an alert. Emergency crews made more than 100 swift-water rescues after receiving 8,000 calls for help in Brisbane and its surrounds since midafternoon Sunday, officials said. All seven flood deaths have been in Queensland state, of which Brisbane is the capital. A search continues for a solo sailor, aged in his 70s, who fell overboard from his vessel in the Brisbane River near the city center on Saturday. Multiple emergency flood alerts were in place for Brisbane suburbs, where 2,145 homes and 2,356 businesses were submerged or would become so Monday as the waters rose. Another 10,827 properties will be partially flooded above the floorboards. The waters were forecast to peak less than 50 centimeters (20 inches) below the 4.46 meter (14 foot, 3 inch) flood level reached in 2011, officials said. Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the floods are “very different” to 2011 because the rain pummeled the region for five days. In 2011, the rain had stopped days before the Brisbane River peaked and authorities had warned for several days of flooding downstream. Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey said major roads had been cut. Train and ferry services across Brisbane have been halted, he said. Read: UN experts: North Korea stealing millions in cyber attacks “We’re going to have localized flooding in a lot of areas for a couple of days yet,” Bailey said. South of the Queensland border, the New South Wales town of Lismore was bracing for its worst flooding on record. Downtown Lismore was inundated on Monday after days of unrelenting rain and 15,000 people had been evacuated, officials said.

As many as 23 people have died in flash floods and landslides triggered by heavy post-monsoon showers in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand in the past two days, officials said on Tuesday. Of the deaths, 16 occurred in the district of Nainital on Tuesday. "Seven people were killed after the wall of a house collapsed in Nainital, following a cloudburst in the district. Some people are also missing in the district," a senior government official told the media. The Indian Army has been carrying out relief and rescue operations alongside the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the local police. Three Army choppers have been pressed into action in the most-affected areas of the state. Also read: Floods, landslides kill at least 28 people in southern India Earlier in the day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and took stock of the situation in the hilly state. The Chief Minister also conducted an aerial survey of the affected areas. "The CM has directed all district magistrates to complete the assessment of crop damage to farmers and send reports at the earliest," the government said in a statement. Uttarakhand and the southern Indian state of Kerala have been witnessing the heaviest post-monsoon showers this year. In Kerala, at least 28 people have died since Saturday. Some people are still missing in the southern state, according to officials. Also read: 21 dead in India floods & landslides The deaths in Kerala occurred mostly in Kottayam and Idukki districts, where several houses were swept away following flooding and landslides on Saturday, rendering hundreds of people homeless. The displaced people are housed in makeshift camps. Three years ago, in August 2018, over 400 people died in Kerala in what was touted as the state's worst flooding in a century.

Tropical Storm Nicholas was moving up the Gulf Coast on Monday, threatening to bring heavy rain and floods to coastal areas of Texas, Mexico and storm-battered Louisiana. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Nicholas was strengthening, churning up top winds of 60 mph (95 kph). It was traveling north-northwest at 14 mph (22 kph) on a forecast track to pass near the South Texas coast later Monday, then move onshore along the coast of south or central Texas by Monday evening. Nicholas was centered roughly 45 miles (75 kilometers) southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande River, and 200 miles (325 kilometers) south of Port O’Connor, Texas, as of Monday morning. A hurricane watch was issued from Port Aransas to Freeport, Texas. Much of the state’s coastline was under a tropical storm warning as the system was expected to bring heavy rain that could cause flash floods and urban flooding. Rainfall totals of up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) in Texas and southwest Louisiana were expected, with isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches (50 centimeters) across portions of coastal Texas from Sunday night through midweek. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state has placed rescue teams and resources in the Houston area and along the Texas Gulf Coast. “This is a storm that could leave heavy rain, as well as wind and probably flooding, in various different regions along the Gulf Coast. We urge you to listen to local weather alerts, heed local warnings,” Abbot said in a video message. READ: Tropical Storm Nicholas threatens Gulf Coast with heavy rain Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards on Sunday night declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm’s arrival in a state still recovering from Hurricane Ida and last year’s Hurricane Laura and historic flooding. “The most severe threat to Louisiana is in the southwest portion of the state, where recovery from Hurricane Laura and the May flooding is ongoing. In this area heavy rain and flash flooding are possible. However, it is also likely that all of south Louisiana will see heavy rain this week, including areas recently affected by Hurricane Ida,” Edwards said. The storm was expected to bring the heaviest rainfall west of where Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana two weeks ago. Although forecasters did not expect Louisiana to suffer from strong winds again, meteorologist Bob Henson at Yale Climate Connections predicted rainfall could still plague places where the hurricane toppled homes, paralyzed electrical and water infrastructure and left at least 26 people dead. “There could be several inches of rain across southeast Louisiana, where Ida struck,” Henson said in an email. Across Louisiana, just over 110,000 customers remained without power early Monday, according to the utility tracking site poweroutage.us. The storm is projected to move slowly up the coastland which could dump torrential amounts of rain over several days, said meteorologist Donald Jones of the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, Louisiana. “Heavy rain, flash flooding appears to be the biggest threat across our region,” he said. While Lake Charles received minimal impact from Ida, the city saw multiple wallops from Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta in 2020, a winter storm in February as well as historic flooding this spring. “We are still a very battered city,” Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said. He said the city is taking the threat of the storm seriously, as it does all tropical systems. “Hope and prayer is not a good game plan,” Hunter said. READ: Tropical Storm Mindy makes landfall on Florida Panhandle In Cameron Parish in coastal Louisiana, Scott Trahan is still finishing repairs on his home damaged from last year’s Hurricane Laura that put about 2 feet of water in his house. He hopes to be finished by Christmas. He said many in his area have moved instead of rebuilding. “If you get your butt whipped about four times, you are not going to get back up again. You are going to go somewhere else,” Trahan said. Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said via Twitter that Nicholas is the 14th named storm of 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. Only 4 other years since 1966 have had 14 or more named storms by Sept. 12: 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2020.

Landslides and flash floods from torrential rains in eastern Indonesia killed at least 44 people and displaced thousands, a disaster relief agency said Sunday. Several others were still missing. Mud tumbled down onto dozens of house in Lamenele village from the surrounding hills shortly after midnight on Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara province. Rescuers recovered 38 bodies and five injured, said Lenny Ola, who heads the local disaster agency. The bodies of three people were found after being swept away by flash floods in Oyang Bayang village as 40 houses were destroyed, she said. Hundreds of people fled submerged homes, some of which were carried off by the floodwaters. Seasonal downpours cause frequent landslides and floods and kill dozens each year in Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains. Also read: Suicide bomb hits Palm Sunday Mass in Indonesia, 20 wounded In another village, Waiburak, three people were killed and seven remained missing when overnight rains caused rivers to burst their banks, sending muddy water into large areas of East Flores district, Ola said. Four injured people were being treated at a local health clinic. Hundreds of people were involved in rescue efforts, but distribution of aid and relief was hampered by power cuts, blocked roads and the remoteness of the area that’s surrounded by choppy waters and high waves, said the National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson, Raditya Jati. Authorities were still collecting information about the full scale of casualties and damage in the affected areas, Jati said. Photos released by the agency showed rescuers and police and military personnel taking residents to shelters, bridges cut while roads were covered by thick mud and debris. Also read: Indonesia bus plunges into a ravine, killing 27 pilgrims Severe flooding also has been reported in Bima, a town in the neighboring province of West Nusa Tenggara, forcing nearly 10,000 people to flee, Jati said. In January, 40 people died in two landslides in West Java province.

Incessant rain for the past two days has marooned around 38,000 people in different areas of Bagerhat district imposing huge sufferings to the locals on Friday.