Dhaka (National Times) 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe severe Cyclone Remal has started crossing the Bangladesh coast,\u201d Bangladesh Meteorological Department Director Azizur Rahman told AFP, adding the raging storm could continue hammering the coast until at least the early hours of Monday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have so far recorded maximum wind speeds of 90 kilometres per hour, but the wind speed may pick up more pace.\u201d Forecasters predicted gusts of up to 130km\/h, with heavy rain and winds also lashing neighbouring India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities have raised the danger signal to its highest level.
Cyclones have killed hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh in recent decades, but the number of superstorms hitting its densely populated coast has increased sharply, from one a year to as many as three, due to the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe cyclone could unleash a storm surge of up to four metres above normal astronomical tide, which can be dangerous,\u201d Bangladeshi senior weather official Muhammad Abul Kalam Mallik told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of Bangladesh\u2019s coastal areas are a metre or two above sea level and high storm surges can devastate villages.
\u201cWe are terrified,\u201d said 35-year-old fisherman Yusuf Fakir at Kuakata, a town on the very southern tip of Bangladesh along the predicted route of the storm, speaking just before its arrival. While he had sent his wife and children to a relative\u2019s home inland, he stayed put to guard their belongings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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, government ministers and disaster officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe want to ensure that a single life is not lost,\u201d said Bankim Chandra Hazra, a senior minister in India\u2019s West Bengal state.
As people fled, Bangladeshi police said that a heavily laden ferry carrying more than 50 passengers \u2014 double its capacity \u2014 was swamped and sank near Mongla, a port in the expected path of the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt least 13 people were injured and were taken to a hospital,\u201d local police chief Mushfiqur Rahman Tushar told AFP, adding that other boats plucked the passengers to safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young man drowned in rough seas at Kuakata on Sunday afternoon, district government administrator Nur Kutubul Alam told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bangladesh\u2019s disaster management secretary Kamrul Hasan said people had been ordered to move from \u201cunsafe and vulnerable\u201d homes. \u201cAt least 800,000 people have been shifted to cyclone shelters,\u201d Hasan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The authorities have mobilised tens of thousands of volunteers to alert people to the danger but local officials said many people stayed home as they feared their property would be stolen if they left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said around 4,000 cyclone shelters have been readied along the country\u2019s lengthy coast on the Bay of Bengal.
In addition to the villagers and fishermen, many of the multi-storey centres have space to shelter cattle, buffaloes, goats and pets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the low-lying island of Bhashan Char, home to 36,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, 57 cyclone centres were opened, deputy refugee commissioner Mohammad Rafiqul Haque told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The country\u2019s three seaports and the airport in the second-largest city Chittagong were closed, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India\u2019s Kolkata airport closed Sunday, while the Indian navy readied two ships with aid and medical supplies for \u201cimmediate deployment\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While scientists say climate change is fuelling more storms, better forecasting and more effective evacuation planning have dramatically reduced the death toll. In the Great Bhola Cyclone in November 1970, an estimated half a million people died \u2014 mostly drowned by the storm surge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In May last year, Cyclone Mocha became the most powerful storm to hit Bangladesh since Cyclone Sidr in November 2007. Sidr killed more than 3,000 people and caused billions of dollars in damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last October, at least two people were killed and nearly 300,000 fled their homes for storm shelters when Cyclone Hamoon hit the country\u2019s southeastern coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dhaka (National Times) 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. \u201cThe severe Cyclone Remal has started crossing the Bangladesh coast,\u201d Bangladesh Meteorological Department Director Azizur Rahman told AFP, adding the raging storm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n