Bangladesh ready with evacuation plans as cyclone nears

The Cyclonic Storm Mora made a landfall over the Bangladesh coast near Chittagong on early Tuesday morning.

Cyclone Mora has hit Bangladesh, lashing the country’s south-eastern coast with heavy rain and winds.

No casualty was, however, reported in the initial hours of the cyclone’s landfall.

Cyclone Mora hit Bangladesh on Tuesday with heavy winds and rain with almost 300,000 people from 10 coastal districts already evacuated, the media reported.

Officials said normal activities at Chittagong seaport were shut down and people living in risky areas were asked to go to some 500 cyclone shelters in the districts.

“Now we’re in the open air”, said Omar Farukh, a community leader in Kutupalong camp.

“Most of the temporary houses in the camps have been flattened”, he said.

In some places, nearly every shanty homemade of tin, bamboo and plastic has been flattened injuring, some people.

He said efforts to assess the full extent of the damage had been hampered by disruption to telecoms links.

“Wind speed is estimated at 130 kmph in Saint Martins Island and 150 kmph at Cox’s Bazar port after it hit the area between 6 am and 7 am”, weather official AKM Nazmul Haque said. A 5-6 feet storm surge is expected to inundate low lying areas including Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Bhola, Jalakhati, Barisal and Noakhali.

The Indian Navy has rescued 27 people in a major operation in Bangladesh which has been hit hard by Cyclone Mora, causing widespread destruction and rendering millions of people homeless. However, the administration has not yet released an exact account of the damage caused by Mora.

The cyclone formed after monsoon rains triggered floods and landslides in Sri Lanka, off India’s southern tip, killing at least 180 people in recent days, authorities said, adding 99 people were missing and 112 had been injured.

“More people were still waiting for evacuation”, said Abu Syed Mohammad Hashim, acting director general of the country’s Disaster Management Department.