A section of the dyke in Halir Haor in Jamalganj upazila of Sunamganj collapsed late on Monday, flooding croplands in Beheli, Sreepur Dakkhin and Fatehpur unions.
According to local farmers, the 71km dyke has ten at-risk sections, one of which is Hajlar Badh, and the haor has paddy in 5,856 hectares of land.
The upazila office of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said only 20% of the paddy has not been harvested yet.
Local farmer Dipok Talukder said: “Much of the paddy has been reaped and stacked, and kept on the croplands. The paddy of hundreds of farmers will be washed away if the flooding is not stopped. At the same time, the drying and threshing spots will go underwater due to the rapid inflow of water.”
Beheli Union Parishad Chairman Subrata Samanta Sarker said the upazila nirbahi officer and BWDB officials, with the help of local residents, had tried their best to stop the inflow, but to no avail.
Crops on 35% of land have yet to be harvested, he said, adding that it will take another couple of days for the whole haor to be submerged, and farmers will be able to reap some of them in the meantime.
Jamalganj UNO Biswajit Dev said huge quantities of bamboo poles, gunny sacks and geobags are being dumped to stop the flow of water, but the efforts have proven futile due to the water pressure in the Baulai River.
