From homes to hopes, everything washed away

His house collapsed in a flash in the floodwater. Mohammed Shahjahan, a 55-year-old, lost everything in his residence and took shelter in a relative’s house.
“Everything turned upside down in a few hours. Now, I have no house, no furniture,” said Shahjahan while cleaning his damaged house on Thursday from Champaknagar village of Feni.
The teary-eyed man, father of the two children, said he doesn’t know how he will reconstruct the house as he spent savings of a lifetime to treat himself in 2022.
“I was an expatriate and forced to return from Saudi Arabia due to spinal disease in 2022. Now I don’t know what I will do,” he said.
Grocery shop owner Sayedul Hoque was moving account books of his shop that were damaged by floodwater.
Sayedul said he fed his five-member family by running the grocery store. But most of the goods in his shop were destroyed due to the flood.
“I don’t understand how to collect the dues,” he said from Shuvopur union under Chhagalnaiya upazila.
Like them, thousands of flood victims in the district are staring at an uncertain future as the devastating flood has destroyed their houses, crops, and livelihoods.
According to the Feni district administration, at least 10.5 lakh people have been affected in the district due to recent floods under six upazilas. 1.5 lakh people have been forced to take shelter.
The flood began in the border district on August 20. The situation worsened gradually and affected Parshuram, Fulgazi, and Chhagalnaiya upazilas in the first phase.
Later, floodwater spread to Feni Sadar, Sonagazi, and Dagonbhuiyan, creating a severe crisis across the district.
During a visit to different upazilas of the districts on Wednesday and Thursday, this correspondent found that victims were trying to move things from their submerged residences.
59-year-old farmer Abdul Malek was nurturing his damaged paddy on a road near his residence at Fazilpur union under Sadar upazila on Thursday.
“I stored 800 kg of paddy at home as future food. But everything was destroyed in the flood water,” he said.
“With the help of relief, I will be able to pass the time of disaster. But how to gather food for my family in the future? the farmer said.
Hasina Begum, a housewife from Chanua union under Sadar upazila, said she could recover only steel-made furniture from his house.
“Wooden chairs, tables, and carpets were damaged by water. I threw away a lot and have to buy new things to survive,” she said.