Mora appears weaken after landfall in Ctg

The cyclonic storm ‘Mora’ appeared weaken after landfall in Chittagong as the wind speed already reduced with moderate rainfall and the electricity supply was restored at 1 pm in the region.

“The cyclonic storm will turn into a land depression within times,” a Met official told BSS.

However, at least five people died in Cox’s Bazar and Rangamati and thousands of people of mostly vulnerable seven upazilas in Chittagong coastal areas are still staying at 479 cyclone shelters or safer places like schools and government offices.

Several hundred houses were leveled or washed out as the surges accompanied by the severe storm lashed out the low lying areas of the coastlines and offshore islands including the St Martin, Sandwip, Anwara, Bashkhali and Kutubdia.

Civil Aviation Authorities have suspended air traffic operations in two airports of Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar from 5.45 am to 2.30 pm today and further direction will be given on the basis of the weather situation.

A good number of trees have been uprooted by strong speed of winds in Chittagong.

However, officials and media reports so far suggested no casualties expecting the tidal surge to cause little harm to human lives in view of a massive evacuation campaign at the coastal villages

Earlier, the powerful cyclone packing winds of up to 117 kilometres per hour (kph) hit northeastern coastlines after overnight evacuation of thousands of people to safety.

In the latest special bulletin, Bangladesh Meteorological Department said the severe cyclonic storm ‘Mora’ moved northwards over North Bay and has started crossing Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong coast near Kutubdia at 6:00 am.

Source: BSS