Nineteen villages have been inundated due to embankment breaches, severely affecting residents and damaging shrimp farms, Aman rice fields, and seedbeds in Paikgacha and Dacope upazilas of Khulna district.
The Kalinagar Rekhamari embankment in Paikgacha breached, flooding 13 villages, while the Khulisa embankment in Dacope collapsed, impacting six villages.
Locals said that efforts to repair the embankments using voluntary labor were unsuccessful due to the excessive pressure from tidal waters.
Even with bamboo stakes and soil, the repairs could not hold. A crack in one section of the Paikgacha embankment gave way early Thursday morning.
The breach was announced via loudspeakers in local temples and mosques, and attempts to repair the embankment with the help of local residents also failed.
According to the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), the Bhadra River is located near Kalinagar village. Around midday, a 90-foot section of the coastal embankment of Polder 22 broke.
This allowed water to flow into the 13 villages inside the polder, which are Kalinagar, Darul Mallik, Gopi Pagla, Telikhali, Syedkhali, Khajurtala, Sener Ber, Hatbari, Fulbari, Bagirdana, Durgapur, Horinkhola, and Nowai. In Dacope, the Khulisa embankment, located by the Kazibacha River, has eroded 50-60 feet, with the damage increasing due to tidal pressure.
The affected villages here are Khulisa, Pankhali, Anandnagar, Choto Chalna, Moukhal, and Hoglabunia.
Polash Roy, a ward member of Daluhti Union Parishad in Paikgacha, said that the flooding of the 13 villages has submerged all shrimp farms and farmland, causing damage to homes and leaving residents in great distress.
On May 26, the breach in the embankment of Gopi Pagla village within Polder 22 due to the tidal surge from Cyclone Remal had previously flooded these 13 villages.
Md Ashraful Alam, executive engineer of BWDB Khulna-2, said that Polder 22 covers an area of about 2,500 hectares. The embankment along the Bhadra River has eroded 30 meters. Efforts are underway to contain the water with the help of 200 bamboo poles and two excavators.