UNB :
A low-pressure area is brewing over the North Andaman Sea and the adjoining east-central Bay of Bengal, which could intensify into a cyclonic storm, the Met office has said.
The storm is then likely to move north-westwards and reach the Odisha-West Bengal-Khulna coast on Wednesday, according to the weather department.
Fishermen have been advised not to go deep into sea. Those who are already there should return to the coast by Sunday, as per a special bulletin of the Met Office.
According to the regular bulletin of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), a low-pressure area is very likely to form over the North Andaman Sea and the adjoining east-central Bay of Bengal in the next 24 hours.
A trough of westerly low lies over West Bengal and adjoining areas, extending up to North Bay, it said.
Rains or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty winds are likely to hit some places in Rangpur, Mymensingh, and Sylhet divisions and one or two areas in Rajshahi and Dhaka divisions, as well as the regions of Jessore, Kushtia Comilla, and Noakhali.
The weather may remain mainly dry elsewhere in the country.
Several parts of Bangladesh – including Dhaka, Khulna, and Barisal divisions-are currently witnessing a mild to moderate heatwave and it may continue, according to the weather department.
Day and night temperatures are likely to remain unchanged in the country.
bdnews24.com adds: The government is preparing storm shelters with a capacity of three times as much as the population may require for evacuation during a possible cyclone now brewing over the Bay of Bengal.
Enhancing the capacity of the storm shelters aims to ensure physical distancing amid a coronavirus outbreak.
To prevent deaths, the authorities will try to take all the people on the path of the storm to the shelters.
Enamur Rahman, the state minister for disaster management and relief, briefed the media after a meeting on tackling the storm on Saturday.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department has asked the maritime ports to hoist distant cautionary signal No. 1 after a low-pressure area formed over the Bay of Bengal.
The low is likely to intensify further into a cyclone, which could lash the coasts of India and Bangladesh on May 26, according to meteorologists.
“We must evacuate everyone to the shelters to prevent deaths,” the state minister said.
Enamur said the authorities would work in light of the experiences they gathered during last year’s cyclone Amphan.
During the previous cyclonic storm, Bulbul, the government opened 5,000 shelters. During Amphan, over 2.4 million people took shelter in 14,067 centres, according to the state minister.
He said masks, hand sanitiser and separate places for the isolation of COVID-19 patients or suspected patients will also be kept at the centres.
Shamsuddin Ahmed, the director of BMD, said the low pressure system was 1,000 kilometres away from the Bangladesh coasts.
The warning signal will be heightened once the system advances. The storm’s position will be clear after May 23.
The workers of Cyclone Preparedness Programme already began informing people about the danger and cleaning the storm shelters.
The government will begin sending dry food to the coastal districts on Sunday.
