Waterlogged Chattogram Reels Under Public Misery
Shafiul Alam
After persistent heavy rains caused by an active monsoon and a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal, the port city of Chittagong has once again been flooded by severe urban waterlogging, turning into a zone of extreme public misery. The city saw 189 mm of rain in the 24 hours before Monday morning. Key residential, commercial, and industrial areas were submerged beneath knee-to-waist-deep water due to the unrelenting downpour and high coastal tides. Major residential areas and commercial centers, including Katalganj, Chawkbazar, Bahaddarhat, Bakalia, Agrabad, and Chaktai-Khatunganj, were totally drowned, seriously impairing everyday life, transportation systems, and business dealings.
The Chittagong Development Authority (CDA), Chattogram City Corporation (CCC), and the Water Development Board (PDB) have launched four significant mega-projects totalling BDT 14,389 crore, with an overall implementation claim of over 75%. However, the city’s fundamental vulnerability has not altered. Public resentment and scepticism are still rising, despite officials pointing to a small amount of alleviation in isolated areas like Prabartak Circle. Residents, business owners, and warehouse owners publicly doubt the true advantages of these expensive governmental efforts as they endure never-ending struggles removing mud, sand, and trash-strewn floods from their homes, markets, and banks.
The Meteorological Department has issued a warning that severe to extremely heavy rainfall is expected to continue over the next 48 hours in the divisions of Khulna, Barishal, Chattogram, and Sylhet. It has also raised concerns about possible landslides in Chattogram’s hilly terrain and maintained local cautionary signal number 3 for sea ports. Aman seedbeds and vegetable crops around the district have been harmed by the continuous downpour, which has also disrupted urban areas by flooding nearby agricultural zones. Additionally, serious disruptions to the lighterage unloading of imported goods at Chattogram Port’s outer anchorage and the suspension of deep-sea fishing activities in the Bay of Bengal have slowed down delivery supply chains across the country.
The failure of these infrastructure initiatives has drawn harsh criticism from civic leaders. ‘Shujan’ Chattogram President Advocate Akhtar Kabir Chowdhury stated that relief from waterlogging is still an unattainable goal because of careless hill-cutting, plastic-choked natural drainage, and a total lack of coordination among service agencies motivated by a mutually dominating mindset. He emphasised that residents must act properly by putting a halt to the careless discharge of solid trash and polyethylene into drains and canals, even as project authorities must concentrate on actual public welfare.
The ongoing disaster exposes a stark disconnect between costly infrastructure plans and practical implementation, as the port city struggles with multi-million Taka economic losses in enterprises, agriculture, and shipping. Chattogram’s long-promised escape from seasonal flooding will remain completely unattainable without stringent waste management enforcement, vigorous hill preservation, and coordinated interagency governance.
