The government on Tuesday deployed the army to deal with the havoc wreaked by days of heavy rains in Chattogram division, the country’s largest division, which is home to 3 crore people.

At least 10 people were killed in landslides, drowning, and snake bites in the division in the 24 hours until 4:00pm on Tuesday, according to different government authorities.

Over the same period of time, the divisional office recorded 319 landslides in which scores were injured and hundreds of houses were damaged as heavy rain continued amid an onrush of water from upstream India and Myanmar.

Some of the flood-affected areas have been under water for four to five days because of the heavy rain, which is not usual with regards to its volume.

Thousands have taken shelter in hundreds of flood shelters opened in flood-affected areas where standing crops and fish farms were destroyed by the heavy rush of water.

Classes and examinations at all educational institutions in Cox’s Bazar, Chattogram, Khagrachari, and Bandarban have been cancelled for two days from today.

The latest spell of rain dumped so much water over the hilly and coastal division that its major rivers kept swelling through Tuesday, flowing up to more than 4 metres above their danger levels.

Rivers flowed high over highways, cutting off road communication between Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar and Dhaka, leaving hundreds of tourists stuck halfway through since early Wednesday.

‘No bus that left Dhaka Tuesday night reached Cox’s Bazar yesterday as they got stuck in water flowing high over highways at many points,’ said Sultan Ahmed, a supervisor of Green Line Paribahan.

Many points on the highways connecting Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar were under waist-deep water rushing with huge force, reported New Age correspondent in Cox’s Bazar.

Floods affected 60 out of 71 unions in Cox’s Bazar, prompting the district administration to open 576 flood shelters, where more than 33,000 people sought refuge until Wednesday afternoon.

The district administration has so far distributed  58 tonnes of rice and Tk 7 lakh among flood-affected people.News agency United News of Bangladesh reported that people were seen wading through waist-deep water as all the roads were submerged, forcing the local administration to suspend vehicular movements on Cox’s Bazar-Chattogram, Ramu-Naikhyangchari, and Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf roads.

New Age correspondent in Chattogram reported that two people were killed in Chattogram, two in Bandarban, and five in Cox’s Bazar in the past 24 hours until Tuesday afternoon.Three of them were buried alive, while one died from a snake bite and another from drowning.

Thousands remained without electricity in flood-affected areas in Chattogram division, where floods affected 10,57,458 people in 41 out of 103 upazilas in the division, according to the divisional office.

‘A total of 410 kilometres of roads were damaged in the flood until Tuesday afternoon,’ said senior assistant secretary Gajala Parvin Ruhi of the divisional commissioner’s office.Many people who were in Chattogram on business or for other purposes from Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar also got stuck.

‘I tried for hours to go back home in the morning but failed,’ said Mohammad Selim, a businessman from Bandarban stuck in Chattogram.

New Age correspondent in Feni reported fresh breaches in the flood protection embankment in Parshuram.

Over 15,000 people have been stranded in Feni.‘We have been unfed for two days,’ said Anwara Begum, 60, Uttar Barya village of Phulgazi.

UNB reported that flash floods left thousands marooned in Dighinala upazila of Khagrachari district.

Traffic movement on the Dighinala-Langadu road has been stopped as the roads adjacent to the Baramerung Steel Bridge area and Dangalbazar area remain submerged due to heavy downpours.

The news agency reported one more death in a landslide when a chunk of mud collapsed on the house of Nurul Islam, 35, burying him alive and injuring others at Kumari in Lama, Bandarban.

UNB reported that the army was deployed in Chattogram and Bandarban districts following a request from the civil administration, quoting Inter-Services Public Relations.

‘It might take a day more for the rivers to drop below their danger mark,’ said Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre executive engineer Sarder Udoy Raihan.

‘Low-lying areas may see the water recede slowly,’ he said.At 9:00 am on Tuesday, the FFWC said, the Sangu was flowing 413cm above its danger mark at Bandarban after swelling 113cm in the 24 hours until the reporting hour.

The Matamuhuri was flowing 318cm above its danger mark at Lama after swelling by 119cm over the same period of time, said the FFWC. The Sangu was flowing 55cm above its danger mark at Dohazari.

Very heavy rain continued on Tuesday, with the country’s largest 203mm rainfall recorded in Bogura.

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department said that rain might reduce over the next two days but was likely to increase again thereafter.

BMD asked four maritime ports of the country—Chattagram, Cox’s Bazar, Mongla, and Payra—to hoist signal number three until further notice due to strong deep convection over the north Bay of Bengal.

All fishing boats and trawlers have been advised to remain close to the shore and proceed with caution.

The India Meteorological Department said that in the 24 hours until 8:00am Tripura received 352 per cent excessive rain, followed by Bihar with 273 per cent excessive rain, Mizoram with 232 per cent excessive rain, West Bengal 163 per cent, Meghalaya 97 per cent, and Nagaland 93 per cent excessive rain.