Staff Reporter :The authorities have suspended water transport throughout the country as cyclonic storm ‘Roanu’ moved to north-northeastward over the west central of Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas turning sea waters rough with high waves lashing the coast in Bangladesh.”The suspension came into effect from Friday afternoon and will remain in force until further notice,” Mofizur Rahman, Director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) told The New Nation on yesterday night.He said, the swelling sea water forced the authorities to suspend water transport throughout the country. The cyclone storm, which tormented Sri Lanka causing floods and landslides and triggered unexpected rains in parts of India, might hit the Chittagong-Noakhali coasts by evening tomorrow (Saturday), according to Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD). The met office raised warning signals for Chittagong to 7, Cox’s Bazar to 6 and 7 for both Mongla and Payra maritime ports.”The cyclonic storm ‘Roanu’ over west-central Bay and adjoining area moved rapidly north-northeastward further over the same area, said a special weather bulletin of the on Friday. The bulletin said it now lies over north Bay and adjoining west central Bay and was centred at 12:00 noon on Friday about 965 km southwest of Chittagong port, 945 km southwest of Cox’s Bazar port, 775 km southwest of Mongla port and 810 km southwest of Payra port.”Under the influence of the cyclonic storm the low-lying areas of (all these) coastal districts . . . and their offshore islands and chars (shoals) are likely to be inundated by storm surge of 4-5 feet height above normal astronomical tide,” the bulletin said.Meanwhile, the government has taken an all out preparations to face ferocity of cyclonic storm ‘Roanu’ in all coastal districts.Administration of all coastal districts have strengthened the rescue operations in at their respective areas and asked to send the dry food items to their respective UNOs and control rooms. The volunteers of Ansar, VDP, Red Crescent, R&H Department, Fishery Department and NGOs are also staying in the coastal districts. “The cyclone Roanu is advancing in a north-northeastern direction from the south-western region in the keeping an edge with the coastlines, turning the sea very rough at the cyclone centre” when contacted a meteorologist told The New Nation. BMD in the in its latest bulletin enhanced its warning signals for the four maritime ports of Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Payra and Mongla against the advancing cyclone replacing the “local signals” with “danger signals”.In a scale of 10, Chittagong port was asked to replace its existing “local signal no 4” with “danger signal no 7″ while the Cox’s Bazar Port was asked to hoist danger signal no 6 and Payra and Mongla ports were asked to hoist danger signal no 5. Maximum sustained wind speed within 54 kms of the cyclone centre is about 62 kph rising to 88 kph in gusts/squalls. The sea will remain very rough near the cyclone centre.Coastal districts of Chittagong, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur, and their offshore islands and chars will come under danger signal number seven (rpt) seven.All fishing boats and trawlers over north Bay and deep sea have been advised to take shelter immediately and will remain in shelter till further notice. The coastal districts of Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur, Borguna, Patuakhali, Barisal, Bhola, Pirozpur, Jhalokathi, Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira and their offshore islands and chars are likely to experience wind speed up to 62-88 kph in gusts/ squalls with heavy to very falls during the passage of the storm.The government cancelled holidays of the officials of government and autonomous bodies in Chittagong and coastal districts. Chittagong district administration in an emergency meeting on Friday morning has taken brisk preparations comprising all public utility departments and concerned agencies.The meeting, chaired by Deputy commissioner Mezbah Uddin, decided to keep medical teams standby for reaching relief materials, including drinking water and dry food, to all shelter centres before and after the cyclone .Control rooms have been set up at the district level and also in every upazila of the coastal districts. The phone number of the control room is 611545.Canceling their leave, officials are ordered to keep all the cyclone shelter centres in the district open, said Mezbah Uddin, deputy commissioner of Chittagong and also the chairman of the district’s disaster management committee.”Announcement through loud speakers about the cyclone awareness began on Thursday afternoon and it will continue until further notice,” he said.Around 31,000 people of the coastal upazilas, including Sandwip, Banskhali, Anowara, Sitakunda and Mirsari, have already taken shelter in 239 shelter centres in the district.One hundred medical teams with 5,000 health workers, adequate number of volunteers of the Red Crescent Society have been kept ready and the district administration is monitoring the development round the clock.Under the influence of Cyclonic ‘Roanu’ loading and unloading activities of the bulk cargoes in the outer anchorage of Chittagong Port have been stopped since this morning as the lighter vessels operations through outer anchorage were stopped due to rough sea, said Sarwar Alam, director (traffic) of Chittagong Port.
