State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Enamur Rahman said the floods in Sylhet and Sunamganj are the worst in 122 years.
The state minister made the remarks while speaking at an emergency press conference on the flood situation in the country at the secretariat on Saturday evening.
People of 64 upazilas in 10 districts of the country have been marooned due to the ongoing flood.
All government and private agencies of the country are working together to provide shelter to the flood-affected people, he said adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is monitoring the rescue operation constantly.
He informed that the members of the army, navy and coast guard are conducting rescue drives which will continue until the situation improves.
"Flood situation worsened severely marooning thousands of people on Friday. Civil administration began evacuation drive through rescue boats. As many as 90,000 people of flood-affected Sylhet and Sunamganj districts have been taken to shelter centres," the state minister said.
Enamur mentioned that deputy commissioners of the two flood-hit districts informed that rescue boats are insufficient compared to marooned people.
"As per the prime minister's directives, members of the army began rescue operations with 31 speedboats in the afternoon on Friday. Navy carried out rescue operations on Friday night with 30 rescue swimmers while the Coast Guard reached there on Saturday afternoon," he added.
He said that as many as 25,000 people have been taken to around 450 shelter centres in Sylhet while 65,000 people were evacuated to 200 shelter centres in Sunamganj in combined efforts.
The state minister said all agencies are working in unison while the premier monitored rescue operations remaining awake in the night.
He further said: “Cooked hodgepodge (khichuri), puffed rice (muri), flattened rice (chira), molasses and water purifying tablets were also distributed at the shelter centres.
“Tk80 lakh cash has been allocated to each of two flood-hit districts for the distribution of readymade foods.”
