News Desk : dhakamirror.com
Skies remained overcast all over Bangladesh amidst light to heavy rains accompanied by gusts as the cyclonic storm Dana barreled down the Bay of Bengal towards the Indian coast between Odisha and West Bengal on Wednesday.
Forecasters said that Bangladesh has little to worry about as the cyclone was moving away from the country, though slowly.
Bangladesh hoisted signal number three for its all four maritime ports on Wednesday asking all fishing trawlers and boats to immediately seek shelter.
‘The danger is still there. Cyclones are notorious in changing directions. We are keeping a close watch on the system,’ said meteorologist Shahnaj Sultana.
The sea remained very rough, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department said, adding that the storm was centred on east-central and its adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal, 650km south-west of Chattogram, 595km west-southwest of Cox’s Bazar, 585km south of Mongla and 555km south-south-east of Payra port at 6:00pm.
Within 54km of the centre of the storm, the maximum sustained wind was recorded to be 62kmph rising up to 88kmph.
The meteorology department said that the cyclone was formed at 6:00am.
The India Meteorological Department said that the storm was likely to make landfall between north Odisha and West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island between tomorrow night and the morning next day with 100–110kmph wind gusting at 120kmph.
The Indian meteorology department observed that the storm was moving at a speed of 12kmph, which was three times the speed the weather system had when it was a low.
New Age correspondent in Satkhira reported intermittent rain in the coastal district on Wednesday.
The rain is caused by outer band clouds of the storm.
The coastal people were filled with anticipation as the storm approached with prediction of it raising the sea by up to three feet above the normal tide.
High tides during cyclones often wash away embankments, while many areas were bracing for the storm without any protection.
‘Some breached points in the embankments still lie unrepaired since previous cyclones, including Remal, Aila and Sidr impacted them,’ said Nasir Uddin, a resident of Gabura in Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira district.
Of the 643 embankments in Satkhira, stretches with a total length of 4.5km are vulnerable.
New Age correspondent in Noakhali reported that Hatiya was cut off from the rest of the country as the rough weather forced the ferry service with the island to suspend.
Noakhali also witnessed light to heavy rain on Wednesday.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said that the rivers in coastal division of Khulna might witness above normal tide.
Forecasters said that Bangladesh might face moderately heavy rainfall today and tomorrow.
The IMD put Odisha and West Bengal on red alert because of potential very heavy rainfall, predicting up to six feet above normal tide in places.
The Bangladesh meteorology department said that rain accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at many places over Rangpur, Rajshahi, Dhaka, Mymensingh, Khulna, Barishal, Chattogram and Sylhet divisions with moderately heavy rain at places.
On Wednesday, Bangladesh’s highest rainfall of 53mm was recorded in Aricha. The day’s maximum temperature of 35C was recorded in Saidpur.
Cyclone Preparedness Programme director Ahmadul Haque said that since the storm was unlikely to hit Bangladesh there was no plan to evacuate people.
‘We don’t want to raise false alarm,’ he said.
In the coastal Khulna division, 30,000 volunteers are ready to conduct emergency evacuation in case the cyclone started moving towards Bangladesh.
– Input from New Age was used in this article.
