Submerged city roads sent a chilling reminder about how important it is to preserve the remaining flood flow zones, which, thanks to our political governments, have mostly been plundered.

Lack of proper drainage and water retention ponds put the Dhaka commuters and its managers to one of the hardest tests ever yesterday, the first working day of the week. The entire city was virtually waterlogged.

Vehicles, especially CNG-auto-rickshaws, stalling in knee-deep water in their hundreds made the scenario even more chaotic.

Fewer policemen who were still manning some important intersections were seen helplessly trying to control traffic bare foot with their trousers folded up to their knees. On-duty policemen and ansar personnel looked on as in many areas rickshaw pullers defied the existing bans on their movements and directly rode into the mayhem.

Scores of day labourers stood by the city roads at the waterlogged areas trying to make some quick bucks pushing stalled vehicles in the water. And busy they were almost throughout the day.

The worst traffic snarl occurred in the early hours in areas dotted with private English medium schools. Dhanmondi's recently introduced one-way system partially collapsed as policemen and ansar personnel deserted their posts in the face of torrential rain.

Most English medium schools are now holding their annual exams and parents had no option other than sending their children to school. According to parents they would never venture out in such weather if there were no final exams.

From 7:30 am hundreds of cars started moving into Dhanmondi. By 8am the entire area was a traffic choc-a-bloc. Drenched in pouring rain, trapped children and parents got down from their vehicles just to negotiate knee-deep water and wade towards the school.

Hundreds of cars, rickshaws, CNG three-wheelers, ambulances, motorcycles did not move for hours with helpless passengers trapped inside. On many main roads throughout the city waist-deep water stopped all vehicular traffic. Rickshaws, with sheer muscle power, replaced the vehicular traffic in these areas.

Officials of the Wasa's drainage circle had the toughest time tackling severe water-logging at the Bangladesh Secretariat, the nerve centre of the government's administration. The Secretariat area has become most vulnerable to waterlogging following the start of the Osmani Udyan project by the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC).

Faced with vulnerability to frequent water-logging due to lack of drainage in the Secretariat area, the Wasa engineers installed an underground drain connecting the Secretariat with the pond inside the Osmani Udyan. According to Wasa sources the drain line was snapped as soon as DCC started developing Osmani Udyan. Yesterday, it took the Wasa officials more than five hours to clear the water-logging at the Secretariat.