Effectiveness of the Submersible Embankment in Haor Area in Bangladesh

Abstract

The north-eastern part of Bangladesh is very productive for agriculture and fishing, and the region involves several depressed (haor) areas. Flash floods during the pre-monsoon period bring devastating damage to agriculture in the haor region recurrently. To protect crops from flash floods, the Bangladesh Water Development Board constructed several ring-type submersible embankments. In this research, we have investigated the effectiveness of submersible embankments in controlling flash flooding in the Matian and Shanir haors in the Sunamganj district. A two-dimensional rainfall runoff inundation model was applied considering several scenarios for simulating heavy flash flood events in 2004, 2010, and 2016. Without an embankment, the river overflow would have entered the Matian haor 3 days, 22 days, and 9 days earlier in 2004, 2010, and 2016, respectively, whereas it would have been 7 days and 23 days earlier in 2004 and 2010 for the Shanir haor. The event in 2016 was successfully stopped by the Shanir haor embankment. To avoid river overflow entering into the Matian and Shanir haor completely, the embankment height must be elevated further by 1 m and 0.7 m, respectively. Providing proper drainage facilities for the accumulated rain water inside the hoar is still an important issue for protecting the crops effectively.