Danger signal for Bangladesh sea ports as cyclone turns severe

Amid fears of COVID-19 spread, Bangladesh has ordered the evacuation of more than 5 million people to 12,078 cyclone shelters along its coast as the super cyclonic storm Amphan moves towards it.

‘A very powerful cyclone is coming our way,’ said Enamur Rahman, state minister, disaster management and relief at an online briefing on Monday afternoon.

‘We urge all evacuees to wear mask and to ensure social distancing for which we have doubled the number of cyclone shelters,’ he said. 

Bangladesh Met Office in a special weather bulleting said that the super storm moved in a northerly direction with wind blowing up to 245 km per hour within 90 km of the centre of the storm until 6:00pm.

The minister said that assistance from the armed forces, coast guards, NAVY, law enforcing agencies and other non-government organisations has been sought in evacuating 5,190,144 people from vulnerable coastal districts since Tuesday morning.

The challenge lies in successfully implementing the evacuation process in some coastal areas that can only be reached after daylong travel even under favourable circumstances.

The other challenge is about people’s reluctance to leave property behind unguarded in many areas where government protection is almost non-existent.

Besides, coastal people especially dislike spending days at the poorly maintained cyclone shelters where humans are huddled together with livestock animals and foods are often in short supply.

The government plan laid out in the press briefing did not mention anything about the unhygienic shelters or whether there would be enough sanitising opportunity for evacuees.

The minister said that the government took every possible measure to keep losses to a minimum level and special teams were kept standby for delivering emergency services.

He said that the government successfully managed 23 lakh people during Bulbul, the last cyclone that hit the coastal region in November last year.

On Monday, Bangladesh Meteorological Department raised its cyclone alerts for Mongla and Payra ports to the danger signal number seven and for Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar ports to six.

The BMD also issued the danger signal number seven and six for 15 coastal districts as the cyclone over the southeast Bay of Bengal moved northwards.

The coastal districts may get lashed by wind blowing up to 160 km per hour as the cyclone crosses Bangladesh coast between Khulna and Chattogram from late Tuesday night to Wednesday afternoon, said a special  bulletin released by the BMD. Until 3:00 pm, the cyclone was 1,045 km south-southwest of Chattogram port, 990 km south-southwest of Cox’s Bazar port, 955 km south-southwest of Mongla port and 940 km south-southwest of Payra port, said the BMD bulletin.

The BMD said that the storm would keep tracking northwards and then re-curve north-northeastwards.

‘The cyclone is moving with a rightward circulation which is a bad for us. It means Bangladesh is likely to face its severest impacts,’ Abdul Mannan told New Age.

Mannan said that it was a category 5 hurricane equivalent and is 400 km in diameter.

The BMD said that the cyclone may be accompanied by tidal surges up to 5 feet above the regular astronomical tides.

The districts that are under danger number seven are Satkhira, Khulna, Bagherhat, Jhalokathi, Pirojpur, Barguna, Patuakhali, Bhola, Barishal, Laxmipur, Chandpur and their offshore island and their chars.

Noakhali, Feni, Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, their offshore islands and char are under the danger signal number 6.

The BMD said that the districts are likely to experience heavy to very heavy rainfall during the passage of the storm.

It advised all fishing boats and trawlers over the North Bay and deep sea to seek shelter immediately and remain there until further notice.

The Indian Meteorological Department issued orange alert for West Bengal and Odisha implying that the storm could create catastrophic impacts upon landfall.

The IMD said that the cyclone is likely to make landfall between Digha in West Bengal and Hatiya in Bangladesh on Wednesday afternoon and evening with maximum sustained speed of 175 km per hour.

The IMD issued heavy rainfall warning for Odisha, West Bengal, sub Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim and Assam and Meghalaya.

The IMD predicted extensive damages to kutcha houses, standing crops and orchards and extensive uprooting of communication and power poles.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net