Restaurant owner 'scared' for family amid flood destruction

Monty Ali, owner of Rishi Restaurant in Mousehold Lane, had not heard from his 15-strong family when floods in Bangladesh hit two weeks ago.

Now the 54-year-old, who lives in Magpie Road, is looking to help as many people as possible affected by the destruction the rising tides have caused.

Mr Ali said: "It's been really bad - there was a bit of rain for a few days before all of a sudden the water levels went up over night.

Monty Ali, owner of Rishi Restaurant, in Mousehold Lane. (Image: Monty Ali)

"It's terrible - there's no power, no water, no food - houses were underwater.

"I have family who live in Sylhet which has been hit and I hadn't heard from them for days.

"It was only yesterday I heard from my cousin who said they were staying with another family member, in a different village, which was less affected."

Now Mr Ali is determined to help in any way he can.

He added: "On July 6 I'm going to have a charity night at the restaurant.

"We'll have the whole menu available to our customers, so they can have whatever they want, and I'll be sending any proceeds from that night back home to help people there as best I can.

"My colleagues will also be donating their pay from that evening to help the effort as well.

Rishi Restaurant is raising funds by holding a charity event on July 6. (Image: Monty Ali)

"I'm going to send the donations over that weekend to my cousin who has his contacts to help get it to the right place.

"I'd like to go over myself but currently, with all the flight cancellations, it's proving too difficult right now."

The issues currently plaguing Mr Ali's family and people in Bangladesh are due to a constant torrent of heavy rain which has caused flash floods throughout the country.

Mr Ali said: "I'm scared to be honest - there's never been flooding like this before.

"I'm just hoping it won't get much worse and I wish for everyone to be safe until the floods stop."