INSTITUTE OF WATER AND FLOOD MANAGEMENT

BANGLADESH UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

Assignment - 2

Submitted to
Dr. Mohammad Rezaur Rahman
Professor
IWFM, BUET

Submitted by
Anisur Rahman Bayazid
Roll: 0419282031

Course no: WFM 6310

Course Name: Water Disaster Management

Date of Submission: 08-09-2020

 MONSOON FLOOD 2020

Monsoon rainfall continues to impact Bangladesh, and in last five years, Bangladesh faced
devastated flood in each year except 2018. In 2020, the flood impacted in two spell. 1st
spell started from 28th June and extended up to 5th of July while within the week the
monsoon flood started to impact on 9th July with the flooding of extended areas. It lasted
up to 3rd week of August, reaching its peak in the 1st week of August.

The heavy rainfall in upper started and northern and north eastern basin resulted the
flood in two basis at the same time.

Parameters:

Parameters of flood includes Depth of water, Duration, Velocity, Rate of rise, Frequency
of occurrence, and Seasonality.

Monsoon flood 2020 has some special features. It started earlier than usual (Late June),
when only Brahmaputra brought flooding. In that period, it only flooded north-western
part of Bangladesh. In Bahadurabad of Jamalpur, Jamuna flowed at 20.79 meters, 17 cm
above the last water level record set in 1988 according to FFWC. But not all the places
have set records.

1st spell of the flood lasted a week, whereas the 2nd spell lasted about 1 and half month.
In some places, it lasted more than 60 days. Rate of rise was very low, although the
duration was high. There is a 3rd spell of the flood, affecting southern part of Bangladesh
from Ganges-Padma flooding starting from late August till the start of September. One of
the important fact of this flood is Brahmaputra and Ganges didn’t reach peak at the same
time. It saved the country from huge losses.

By considering these facts, it can be stated that Duration, and Frequency of Occurrence
is the most important parameters for Monsoon 2020 flood. The places where flood hit
several times are more vulnerable. In some places where flood affects for both
Brahmaputra and Padma flooding, Seasonality is very important. Southern parts of the
country are such places. At some places, Depth of water is also important, like
Bahadurabad. But Rate of Rise is low and it’s only important in the flash flood areas.
Flood Hazard Assessment:

Flood hazard assessment depends on Flood Prone Area and Flood Magnitude.

Monsoon Flood 2020 affected 31 districts and about 34002 sq km. areas, about 24%
area of the country. 158 Upazilas(2August, 2020) are affected. 5.5 million people have
been directly affected and more than 1 million households were flooded. According to
the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), 257 people lost their lives due to
the floods.

Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE) informs that 92860 tube-wells
and 100223 latrines were damaged. 1902 schools have also been damaged.

Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) informed that around 83000 hectares of paddy fields
were affected. Total 110696 hectare crop land has been damaged (2August, 2020).

A report of NAWG states that about 66% unions faced damages of embankment in
different scale. 87% union has damages of house partially or mostly.

In terms of socio-economic vulnerability, number of poor and extreme poor, market price
of food items, agri-based laborers, number of women headed households, kacha and
jhupri based houses etc. assessment is necessary.

All of these are dependent on flood prone area. These assessment are needed in all of the
flooded areas.

If Flood Magnitude is higher, it affects Buildings of different materials, Roads, Bridges,

Railway, Electricity, Gas Pipe Line, Water Supply System, etc. For this situation, these
are also to be assessed for some region, where flood magnitude is higher.

Reference:

1. Water Disaster Management Course class materials.

2. NAWG, 2020. Monsoon Floods 2020 Coordinated Preliminary Impact and Needs
Assessment. Dhaka, 3 August 2020.
3. HCTT Monsoon Flood Response Plan: Monitoring Dashboard. Dhaka, 5 September
2020.
4. Bangladesh: Monsoon Flood 2020 (Situation Report 4). Bangladesh Red Crescent
Society. Dhaka, 30 July 2020.