PATUAKHALI: An intense cyclone smashed into the low-lying coast of Bangladesh on Sunday, with nearly a million people fleeing inland for concrete storm shelters away from howling gales and crashing waves.

“The severe Cyclone Remal has started crossing the Bangladesh coast,” Bangladesh Meteoro­lo­gical Department Director Azizur Rahman said, adding that the raging storm could continue hammering the coast until at least the early hours of Monday morning.

“We have so far recorded maximum wind speeds of 90 kilometres (56 miles) per hour, but the wind speed may pick up more pace.”

Authorities have raised the danger signal to its highest level, as forecasters predicted gusts of up to 130km (81 miles) an hour, with heavy rain and winds also lashing neighbouring India.

“The cyclone could unleash a storm surge of up to 12 feet (four metres) above normal astronomical tide, which can be dangerous,” Bangladeshi senior weather official Mohammad Abul Kalam Mallik said.

Chittagong, Kolkata airports shut; ferry sinks, three seaports closed, shelters set up

Coastal villages

Most of Bangladesh’s coastal areas are a metre or two above sea level and high storm surges can devastate villages.

At least 800,000 Bangladeshis fled their coastal villages, while more than 50,000 people in India also moved inland from the vast Sundarbans mangrove forest, where the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers meet the sea, ministers and disaster officials said.

“We want to ensure that a single life is not lost,” said Bankim Chandra Hazra, a senior minister in India’s West Bengal state.

Ferry sinks

As people fled, Bangladeshi police said that a heavily laden ferry carrying more than 50 passengers — double its capacity — was swamped and sank near Mongla, a port in the expected path of the storm.

“At least 13 people were injured and were taken to a hospital,” local police chief Mushfiqur Rahman Tushar said.

Bangladesh’s disaster management secretary Kamrul Hasan said people had been ordered to move from “unsafe and vulnerable” homes.

“At least 800,000 people have been shifted to cyclone shelters,” Hasan said.

He said around 4,000 cyclone shelters have been readied along the country’s lengthy coast on the Bay of Bengal.

Airports closed

Besides country’s three seaports, Chittagong airport and India’s Kolkata airport were closed on Sunday, while the Indian navy readied two ships with aid and medical supplies for “immediate deployment”.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2024