Cyclone Bulbul to hit Bangladesh coast Saturday night

Cyclone Bulbul is expected to make landfall on Saturday night and cut its path through Khulna, past the Sundarbans.

The ‘very severe’ cyclonic storm continued to move northwards over the Bay of Bengal and was centred about 210 to 430km south-west of the maritime ports of Mongla, Payra, Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar at 6pm Saturday, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.

Maximum sustained wind speed within 74km of the cyclone centre was about 110kph, rising to 130kph in gusts and squalls.

The cyclone could cross the Bangladesh-India coasts between Khulna and West Bengal at any time between Saturday evening and midnight, packing winds of 100 to 120kph, said Senior Meteorologist Ayesha Khanom.

The Met Office has advised the maritime ports of Mongla and Payra to hoist Great Danger Signal No. 10.  It issued Great Danger Signal No. 9 for Chattogram while the Cox’s Bazaar port was advised to hoist Local Warning Signal No. 4.

Under the influence of the storm and the moon phase, the low-lying areas of the coastal districts of Chattogram, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur, Barguna, Bhola, Patuakhali, Barishal, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira and their offshore islands and chars are likely to be inundated by storm surge of 5-7 feet high above normal astronomical tide.

PREPARATIONS

The government has made extensive preparations to tackle the effects of the cyclone.

Seven districts have been flagged as vulnerable to the effects of the storm and cyclone shelters have been set up in these districts for evacuation. These are Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Barguna, Patuakhali, Pirojpur and Bhola.

Over 1.8 million people in the vulnerable coastal districts are being evacuated to 4,071 cyclone shelters. The government weekly holiday of Saturday and that of Eid-e-Mildunnabi on Sunday have been cancelled for the government employees in the seven vulnerable districts and six others, which are Noakhali, Feni, Laxmipur, Chandpur, Cox’s Bazar, and Chattogram.

Health department officials in these districts have formed 1,599 to attend to those affected by the cyclone.

The authorities have suspended all sorts of activities at maritime ports and inland water transport services across the country until further notice.

All fishing boats and trawlers over the North Bay have been advised to remain in shelter until further notice while ships have been asked to move from the jetties to the outer anchorage.

“Around 300,000 people have been moved to safe shelters,” said State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Enamur Rahman.

Director General of Disaster Management Department Shahadat Hossain said work was underway to escort people in the seven vulnerable areas to safety.

Police have been deployed to ensure that those who were not heeding the calls for evacuation are taken to the safety shelters, said Patuakhali’s Kolapara Upazila Nirbahi Officer Munibur Rahman.

Around 56,000 volunteers are ready to conduct rescue and relief efforts while the military bases at the coastal districts remain on alert.

Control rooms have also been set up in each district.

A total of 2,000 packets of dry food have already been supplied to the areas, according to the state minister.

Volunteers were raising alert through microphone and 22 community radio stations.

The government has also suspended the Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) exams scheduled for Nov 9 and Nov 11.

The National University tests set for Saturday were also deferred and the new dates for it will be announced later.

Meanwhile, all flights to and from Chattogram’s Shah Amanat International Airport were suspended for 14 hours from Saturday afternoon.