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Dhaka:
As cyclone Roanu battered Bangladesh’s southern coast,at least 24 people have been killed and over 100 others injured triggering landslides, prompting authorities to evacuate about five lakh people.
Wind speed of up to 88 kilometres per hour, the cyclone hit the Barisal-Chittagong region,with huge impacts across Bangladesh. Most places witnessed rain and thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty and squally wind on Saturday morning.
“The death toll now stands at 24 with four more casualties reported overnight,” Bangladesh’s Disaster Management department’s Director General Reaz Ahmed said.
In Port city of Chittagong at least 11 people including minor children were killed. Which have suffered the worst in the cyclone, Ahmed said.
The southwestern district Bhola, northwestern district Noakhali and Tourist spot Cox’s Bazar coastal districts witnessed three deaths while the storm damaged 85,000 homesteads and business structures along the coastlines, he said.
“The officer in charge of Banskhali (of Chittagong) police station reported that seven people were killed there alone… they were victims of drowning or landslides,” a police officer stationed in the port city said.
A disaster management ministry Government of Bangladesh spokesman said some 500,000 people were evacuated to cyclone shelters though preparations have done to secure some 21,00,000 people.
Meteorologists said the cyclone first hit the southwestern coast and then proceeded towards the southeast turning the sea violent.
The Shah Amanat International Airport, Chittagong suspended all of its flight operations due to Roanu. Experts said the casualty figures appeared less than it hit the coastlines in day time while the government ordered a massive evacuation campaign after the MeT office on Saturday turned its “local warning signals” to “danger signals” for all its four seaports, covering the entire coastlines.
Talking to our friends of Bangladesh it has been found a huge Rain and storm and gusty wind which felt across Dhaka with heavy rain also. “We locked ourselves inside an preyed to All Mighty for Help” one of them told us while talking to them.
The main port of Chittagong, earlier, internally issued a “red alert” ordering ships to immediately leave the port and anchor in the outer anchorage for the safety of the facility and asked the lighterages to take shelter in river banks inside the mainland.
Bangladesh is vulnerable to cyclones because of its location at the triangular shaped head of the Bay of Bengal, the sea-level geography of its coastal area and its high population density while two deadliest cyclones occurred in 1970 and 1991 claimed some 500,000 and almost 14,0000 lives respectively.
24 Killed as Cyclone Roanu Hits Bangladesh, Lakhs Evacuated https://t.co/EFMnNHPL3J pic.twitter.com/uf3MeDIp3Q
— News18 (@CNNnews18) May 22, 2016
After severe cyclonic storm #Aila in 23th may, 2009, here another cyclonic storm named #Rounu is occured in Bay… https://t.co/gcPXU85696
— Anjan Ghosh (@anzanghosh) May 19, 2016
