Chattogram ports reopen as Cyclone Bulbul weakens

The seaport and Shah Amanat Airport in Chattogram have resumed their regular services after Cyclone Bulbul weakened into a land depression.

Flights started flying in and out of the airport and the seaport returned to normal on Sunday, according to officials.

The storm made landfall near Sagar Islands in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district with its status downgraded to “severe” from “very severe” about 9pm on Saturday as the gale wind speed dropped to about 115-125km per hour.

It entered the southwestern part of Bangladesh around 5am on Sunday and turned into a deep depression after a landfall.

The Chattogram port, the busiest seaport in the country, shut down on Friday night. There were 18 ships at the jetty and 149 at the outer anchorage. Fifty-three ships were waiting to reach the jetty.

The Meteorological Department raised the storm warning to danger signal No. 9 for the Chattogram port and to No. 10 for Mongla and Payra ports on Saturday.

"The port went back to normal now. All ships sent to the outer anchorage are brought back to the jetty. Some of the ships began to offload goods at the outer anchorage," said Chattogram Port Secretary Omar Faruk.

The authorities suspended the flight operations at the Chattogram airport for 14 hours with the storm gaining strength.

The airport resumed flights at 7am on Sunday, after the Met Office withdrew danger signals, said Wing Commander Sarwar E Alam, manager of the airport.

A flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines from Dhaka landed in Chattogram at 8.37am.