Cox’s Bazar town under knee-deep rainwater, 25,000 tourists stranded

Cox’s Bazar town has gone under knee-deep water due to incessant rainfall for around 20 hours, leaving at least 25,000 tourists stranded in hotels, resorts, and cottages. The authorities have hoisted a red flag and restricted the movement of tourists along the sea beach amid the hostile weather.

Abul Kashem Shikder, president of the hotel-guest house owners association in Cox’s Bazar, said they had not seen such waterlogging in the town in the last 50 years. He blamed unplanned development, lack of maintenance of canals, and unabated hill-cutting for the predicament.

According to hotel owners and public representatives, it started raining at 9:00 am on Thursday, intensified into heavy rainfall by 12:30 pm, and continued until 12:30 am on Friday, bringing lives of around 800,000 residents to a standstill.

Hours later, the heavy rainfall resumed around 10:00 am on Friday, along with gusty winds, and lasted until 3:30 pm. At least 35 roads, including the highway and Kolatali road, were inundated, halting traffic movement.

AB Hannan, assistant meteorologist at the Cox’s Bazar meteorological office, said they recorded a staggering 501 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours until 3:00 pm on Friday, which is the highest single-day rainfall in the current season.

Heavy rains are expected to continue, with wind speeds potentially reaching up to 60 kilometers per hour, he added.

Mukim Khan, general secretary of the hotel-resort owners association in Cox’s Bazar, said at least 25,000 tourists have been stranded in more than 500 hotels as all 18 roads in the hotel-motel zone have been inundated amid heavy rains.

Tourists could not go to other places from the hotels, and some even departed the beach town, canceling their bookings, he added.

Mukim also said the businesses have been poor throughout the last three months as a reduced number of tourists have visited the beach town due to different issues.

Selim Newaz, general secretary of the guest house owners association, said the businesses are experiencing a negative impact as waterlogging in the hotel-motel zone has become a recurring issue in the beach city.

He recalled a similar waterlogging in July when the mayor and councilors tackled the issue by cleaning canals and evicting illegal establishments on an emergency basis.

This time, there are no visible measures, as the mayor and most of the councilors have been in hiding since the downfall of the Sheikh Hasina government on 5 August.