Bangladesh capital reels under waterlogging amid heavy morning rain

DHAKA, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Bangladeshi capital Dhaka experienced heavy rainfall on Tuesday morning, resulting in extensive waterlogging in parts of the city.

Although the rain has ceased, roads, lanes and bylanes in parts of Dhaka went under ankle to knee-deep water, causing traffic congestion and immense hardship to commuters and millions of dwellers.

Dhaka experienced a combination of overcast skies, sweltering heat and sporadic rainfall for several days.

The country's meteorological office said the heavy rainfall started Tuesday as the monsoon became "extremely active" over the North Bay of Bengal.

Omar Faruq, a meteorologist of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), told journalists Tuesday that they had recorded 80 mm rainfall in Dhaka in the last three hours till 9:00 a.m. local time Tuesday.

Because of the serious water-logging problem, activities in the country's business district of Motijheel have been severely affected, with many office-goers, traders and workers falling behind their daily schedules.

As always, rickshaws emerged as a means of relief in many water-logged Dhaka areas.

According to the BMD's weather bulletin, parts of Bangladesh including Rangpur and the Dhaka region may experience light to moderate rainfall with gusty winds in the next 24 hours from 9:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

According to the daily disaster situation report by the country's National Disaster Response Coordination Center on Tuesday, floods in parts of Bangladesh have left 71 people dead, affected nearly 6 million people and displaced hundreds of thousands of families.