NATIONAL
Dhaka records second-highest rainfall in 17 years; heavy rain expected for another 5 days
Dhaka recorded 175mm of rain in 24 hours, marking its second-highest daily rainfall in 17 years as monsoon downpours and floods persist, with heavy rain forecast to continue for five days.
FARABI SAIFULLAH
Ahadul Karim Khan/Dhaka Tribune
2:42
In a Nutshell:
- An active monsoon brought heavy rain across Bangladesh, including a near-record 175 millimeters in the capital city in just 24 hours.
- The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) tracked and forecasted the active weather patterns, while residents across multiple districts bore the brunt of the resulting disasters.
- The severe weather triggered devastating floods and landslides that killed 51 individuals and injured 39 others across five affected districts.
Why it Matters
The extreme weather event underscores how persistent rain can cause severe waterlogging and widespread operational disruptions across a major urban center like Dhaka, forcing the capital to confront rainfall volume unprecedented in the last 17 years.
- The 51 deaths counted here are part of a wider disaster in which over 1 million people across seven districts have been affected and members of nearly 268,000 families remain marooned, with about 44,500 people in relief shelters.
- The Cox's Bazar toll includes 13 Rohingya people among the 28 dead there as landslides struck the refugee camps, where makeshift shelters sit on steep, deforested hillsides that are especially dangerous in monsoon season.
Who it matters to
The districts named in the forecast face very different stakes than those already underwater, and the state machinery is now fully mobilised.
- The response has escalated to the top of the state. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Sunday directed all agencies and field administrations to stay on maximum alert over the waterlogging, and Border Guard Bangladesh has been deployed in 11 flood-affected districts to run rescue operations alongside local administrations.
- With 28 of the 51 deaths, this district bears the heaviest human cost. Residents in the worst-hit areas face an acute shortage of safe drinking water after thousands of tube wells went underwater, and many families cannot cook because floodwater reached waist to chest height inside homes.
- The capital's 175mm deluge produced waterlogging and traffic chaos that paralysed both Dhaka and Chattogram, and the 13 July forecast puts Dhaka in line for more.