Flood - 1998, Bangladesh

As much as two-thirds of the country was inundated by the 1998 flood, which has been deemed "the flood of the century"¹. The floods lasted for more than 65 days (from mid-July until September) and affected 100,000 km² (68 percent) of the country².

Basic infrastructure was badly affected with the loss of many homes, businesses, cattle and other livestock³.

The capital, Dhaka, was also seriously affected with roads flooded and made impassable, flood protection levees threatening to crack and blocked drains and sewerage systems causing environmental and health problems⁴.

¹ Choudhury, N.Y., Paul, A & Paul, B.K. 2004. Impact of Coastal Embankment on the Flash Flood in Bangladesh: a Case Study. Applied Geography. Vol. 24, pp 241-258

² Chadwick, M.T., Soussan, J.G., Martin, T.C., Mallick, D & Alam, S.S. 2001. Bank Robbery: The Real Losers in the 1998 Bangladesh Flood. Land Degradation and Environment. Vol. 12, pp 251-260

³ Chowdhury, R. 2000. An Assessment of Flood Forecasting in Bangladesh: The Experience of the 1998 Flood.

⁴ Rashid, S.B. 2000. The urban poor in Dhaka City: Their struggles and coping strategies during the floods of 1998. Disasters. Vol. 24, pp 240-253