Cyclone Bulbul lashed Bangladesh overnight, killing nine people, injuring scores and damaging homes but prompt evacuations saved many lives and the worst was over, said officials from Health Emergency Operations Center of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Sunday (Nov 10).
DGHS Assistant Director (Control Room) Dr Aysha Akter said, nine people died when trees collapsed on them at coastal districts of the country.
Hameed Kazi, 65, of Patuakhali; Ashalota Mazumdar, 65, of Barishal’s Uzirpur; Noni Mandal, 55, of Pirojpur’s Najirpur; Alamgir, 40, Khulna’s Dighlia; Promila Mandal, 52, of Khulna’s Dakop; Samia, 15, of Bagerhat’s Rampal; Hira Begum, 25, of Faikirhat; Cheken Hawladar, 70, and Moti Begum, 65, of Gopalganj died during the storm, said the official.
No major damage was reported in camps in southeast Bangladesh where hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighbouring Myanmar are living.
Some 2 million people from all of Bangladesh's 13 coastal districts huddled in about 5,558 shelters on Saturday night. Outside, wind speeds rose to between 100 and 120 km per hour (62 to 75 mph) and some low-lying coastal areas were flooded.
Wind speeds have now come down to between 70 and 80 kph (43 to 50 mph), authorities said.
About 1,200 predominantly domestic tourists were stuck at the Saint Martin island in the Cox's Bazar district, Enamur Rahman, the junior minister for disaster management and relief, told Reuters.
"With the signal down to 4 all of them will be rescued," he said, referring to a storm-warning system.
The cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal can last from April to December. In 1999, a super-cyclone battered the coast of India's Odisha state for 30 hours, killing 10,000 people.
India's eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha have received heavy rainfall since early Saturday and there were reports of hundreds of trees being uprooted.
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