As severe cyclone ‘Fani’ churns towards the coast, Bangladesh is set start moving people of 19 coastal districts to cyclone shelters from Friday morning, said officials.
The storm with a wind speed between 100 and 120 kmph, will cross Bangladesh overnight from Friday evening, according to the Met office.
The government has taken all the necessary preparations to face the situation if the cyclone hits Bangladesh coastal areas, State Minister for Disaster Management Enamur Rahman said after an inter-ministerial meeting at the Secretariat in Dhaka on Thursday.
Evacuation of residents of coastal areas to the cyclone shelters will start from 10am on Friday and expected to be completed by the evening.
All concerned have been directed to operate control rooms round the clock, evacuate people and take them to shelter centres immediately after issuance of ‘very danger’ signal (signal No 8), said State Minister Rahman.
Besides, the National Disaster Response Coordination Centre (NDRRC) is providing updates. Control rooms have already been opened in Cyclone Preparedness Programme(CPP) headquarters and 19 coastal districts.
Two thousand packets of dry food, 200 tonnes of rice and cash amounting to Tk 500, 000 have been sent to the districts, he said.
Over 4,000 cyclone shelters along the coastlines were kept open for the people to take makeshift refuge while the local authorities took their possession of the keys of safe installations like schools to be used as shelters if required, Disaster Management Secretary Shah Kamal told the media after the meeting.
Met office director Shamsuddin Ahmed told the media call they fear the cyclone to cause four to five feet high tidal surges and hit the coastlines with an wind speed of 100 to 120 kilometre per hour despite exhausting its maximum wraths in the India’s Odisha state.
Khulna and its adjoining southwestern coastal areas will feel the peripheral effects of ‘Fani’ by Friday morning, the Met Office says, advising Mongla and Payra ports to display danger signal number seven.
The very severe cyclonic storm was 735 km southwest of Mongla port and 760 km Southwest of Payra port at 6pm on Thursday.
The coastal districts of Bhola, Barguna, Patuakhali, Barishal, Pirojpur, Jhalakati,Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira and their offshore islands and chars will come under danger signal number seven, the weather office said.
The maritime ports in Chattogram have been asked to hoist danger signal number six. This danger signal is also effective for the coastal districts of Chattogram, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur and their offshore islands.
Meanwhile, the maritime ports of Cox’s Bazar have been advised to keep hoisted local warning signal number four.
The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) on Thursday suspended all the types of water transport services across the country.
The movement of water vessels on Hatiya and Sandwip sea routes was suspended while large ships instructed to leave ChattogramPort.
Meteorologists classified Fani as an “extremely severe cyclonic storm” in India.
Fani, which is still about over 200 kilometers off the Indian coastline strengthened rapidly on Monday and Tuesday, becoming the strongest storm to move through the Bay of Bengal this early in the year since Tropical Cyclone Nargis in 2008.
Nargis hit Myanmar with winds over 200 kph (124 mph), bringing a devastating storm surge and flooding rainfall that resulted in more than 100,000 deaths in the country.
Fani too is expected to bring large storm surges and significant wind damage near the landfall location inundating a vast landmass particularly in India.
Weather experts said parts of eastern India and Bangladesh could expect 150 to 300 mm (6 to 12 inches) of rain with locally higher amounts regardless of the intensity.
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