Ambulances stuck in torrential rain drowning Ctg roads
Hundreds of rickshaws, freight trucks, private cars, and even ambulances, were stuck knee-deep or in places, waist-deep, in flooding rainwater, in different parts of the city including in Bahaddarhat, Badurtala, Muradpur, and the Prabartak intersection
Various places in the port city of Chattogram were inundated by continuous torrential rains on Tuesday.
Ambulances with patients, unable to move in knee-deep water, were stuck in different areas of the city, including Bahaddarhat, Badurtala, Muradpur, and the Prabartak intersection.
The Patenga Meteorological Office in Chattogram recorded 190.6mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours till 12:00 noon on Tuesday. The highest rainfall of the current season was recorded at 216mm on 1 July.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Visiting Bahaddarhat in the city at 10am, this correspondent saw hundreds of rickshaws, freight trucks, private cars, and even ambulances, stuck in knee-deep or, in some places, waist-deep water.
An ambulance of Ideal Health Care Limited, coming from Raozan to the city with a Covid patient, was going to Chattogram Medical College and Hospital (CMCH). At first, the driver tried to go through Muradpur, but the Bahaddarhat flyover access was already submerged in waist-deep water.
The driver of the ambulance then turned the vehicle around with great difficulty in over half an hour and tried to go through Badurtala. "But the ambulance got stuck again at the Jangi Shah Mazar intersection. It was simply impossible to drive in front of the Badurtala Jame Mosque where the road was inundated in waist-deep water," said the driver.
Not only this particular ambulance, but many others in the port city suffered indescribable misery from 9:00am to 12:00 noon in places like Muradpur, Kapasgola, Bahaddarhat, Katalganj, Bakalia, DC Road, Rahmatganj, and Chandgaon.
Zakir Hossain, an ambulance driver for National Hospital, said, "I got a call and went to Mohra to bring the patient. I went on the flyover while going there, but on the way back there was a severe traffic jam. Both the roads back, in Muradpur and Badurtala, are submerged in rainwater. I do not know how to get back to the hospital now."
Rita Ghosh, a pregnant woman, was standing at Bahaddarhat intersection with her younger sister Geeta. They were trying to go to CMCH, but no transport was available. The rickshaw pullers were demanding Tk200 for this short distance.
In Geeta's words, "Dada (elder brother) has gone to office. Now didi (elder sister) needs to be taken to hospital as her physical condition has deteriorated suddenly. But I have not been able to manage a vehicle hard as I have tried for an hour."
Later, Rita was finally taken to the hospital by a rickshaw-van.
In this year's monsoon, Chattogram is repeatedly drowning in water whenever it rains. People in the city are blaming the repeated flooding on the waterlogging elimination project and the lack of coordination between the project implementing agencies.
Meteorologist Sheikh Farid Ahmed told The Business Standard: "Usually, 80mm of rainfall in 24 hours is called moderate rainfall. But heavy rains have continued uninterrupted for the last three days. Low pressure out at sea, has brought on active monsoon winds, resulting in this continuous rainfall. The heavy rains will continue for the next two days."
Meanwhile, 1,273 people have been diagnosed with corona infection in Chattogram in the last 24 hours. The infection rate was 38.89% of the number of samples tested. Ten people died of Covid-19 on this day. Of them, six were in the upazilas and four were residents of metropolitan Chattogram.
One of the main centres for corona treatment in Chattogram is the Maternal and Child Hospital in Agrabad. Besides treatment in the corona unit of the hospital, 400 to 500 patients are attended daily by their outdoor department. But the entire ground floor of the hospital was inundated and deep in rainwater.
SM Morshed Hossain, acting president of the hospital's management committee, said, "The children's ward, reception room, outdoor department and administrative department are still submerged in water flooding the ground floor of the hospital. However, some patients from the emergency department and the children's ward have been moved to other departments. Other services are also being continued."
