At least 7 killed as super cyclone batters Bangladesh

Dhaka, May 21

At least seven persons, including a six-year-old boy, were killed as a powerful cyclone battered Bangladesh, inundating many areas and damaging scores of houses, authorities said on Thursday.

Cyclone ‘Amphan’, the strongest to hit the region in nearly two decades, made a landfall on Wednesday evening. It was the most powerful storm since cyclone ‘Sidr’ killed nearly 3,500 people in 2007.

Many low-lying areas were inundated, embankments collapsed, trees uprooted and houses damaged by the cyclone in the coastal districts of Bangladesh, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

At least seven persons were killed as the cyclonic storm made landfall along the coastline of India and Bangladesh. The deceased are from Barguna, Satkhira, Pirojpur, Bhola and Patuakhali districts, it said.

In Barguna, a 60-year-old man died by drowning, in Satkhira, a 40-year-old woman died after being hit by a falling tree branch, in Pirojpur a 60-year-old man died after a wall collapsed on him, authorities were quoted as saying by the report.

In Bhola, two persons were killed during the stormy weather caused by the cyclonic storm. In Patuakhali, a six-year-old boy died after being hit by a falling tree branch.

Meanwhile, the body of Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) leader Shah Alam was recovered nine hours after he went missing following the capsizing of a boat in a canal in Kalapara upazila, Kalapara Upazila Nirbahi Officer Abu Hasnat said.

A boat carrying CPP volunteers, including Alam, sank in the Hafez Pedar canal on Wednesday morning after being hit by the storm, the report said.

On Wednesday, the cyclone made landfall at 2.30 p.m. between Digha in West Bengal and and Hatiya island in Bangladesh, flattening fragile dwellings, uprooting trees and electric poles.

The cyclone ‘Amphan’ started crossing the Bangladesh coast around 5 pm on Wednesday packing a wind speed of around 160 to 180 kph rising to 200 kph within 80 km of its centre, meteorologist Abdul Mannan was quoted as saying by bdnews24.com.

Bangladesh had shifted over 20 lakh people to storm shelters and deployed the military to deal with the powerful cyclone.

Leading global storm tracker AccuWeather on Tuesday described Amphan as the first super cyclone in the Bay of Bengal since 1999. PTI