Staff Reporter :At least 24 people have been killed and over 100 injured as the tropical cyclone ‘Roanu’ struck Bangladesh’s southern coastlines on Saturday.Of them, 13 including a schoolboy and a mother died in Chittagong, three each in Bhola, Cox’s Bazar and Noakhali and one each in Patuakhali and Laxmipur districts, Local Administrations confirmed the deaths to The New Nation on Saturday night.Meanwhile, the cyclonic storm Roanu has weakened and turned into a land depression, after making landfall in Barisal-Khulna-Chittagong coastal districts. “Now it is lying in Feni, Khagrachhari, Sitakunda [of Chittagong] area and Indian State of Tripura,” Muhammad Mohiuddin, an observer at the Dhaka Met Office, told The New Nation on Saturday night. As the storm weakened, the cautionary Signal was lowered to 3 at all the Maritime Ports, he said.Police said, four people went missing as two sand-laden cargoes sank in the Meghna River in Ilisha of Bhola’s Sadar upazila during the heavy rains in the morning, influenced by the cyclonic storm. Several hundred houses, business establishments and shops were damaged, many trees and electric poles uprooted, ponds and fish enclosures washed away and several thousand people marooned due to flood triggered by the storms in different coastal districts.With a wind speed of 62 to 88 kilometres per hour, the cyclone hit the coastal areas of Barisal and Chittagong at noon, causing a storm surge of 4-5 feet height above normal tide, a bulletin of Dhaka Met Office said. “It has struck the southern coastal areas of Barisal and Chittagong with a wind speed of 62-88 kilometres per hour,” said an official of the Met office. “The landfall began just afternoon. It will take another three-four hours to complete the landfall,” he added.The cyclonic storm also sent impacts across the country with most places witnessed incessant rain and thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty and squally wind since early morning.Several villages in coastal districts, including Chittagong, were inundated after the cyclone triggered a five-foot storm surge.Earlier, administrations of the coastal districts had taken all sorts of measures to minimise losses to property and lives. In a massive evacuation drive, they shifted nearly 2,150,000 people in 13 most vulnerable coastal districts before the cyclone hit the coastline with its full wrath.Relief and Disaster Management Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya in media briefing said yesterday that the government has taken all out preparation to face the situation may arise from Roanu. “We have taken all preparations to face the cyclone impact. Thousands have also been moved to cyclone shelters to minimize loss of lives,” he added.Four Upazilas of Chittagong were inundated as embankments were damaged in the cyclone Roanu which crossed the Bangladesh coast on Saturday afternoon.The flooded upazilas are Sandwip, Banshkhali, Anwara and Sitakunda. Local people and officials said several unions of the four upazilas were flooded.Officials said inhabitants of the most of the coastal area were evacuated. A trader in Sandwip, Sajal Saha, said “Sowdargor Haat areas was flooded after an embankment was broken. Several houses were also damaged. All shops and other business are shut.” Sandwip Upazila Executive Officer (UNO) Saiful Islam said the administration was mending the embankments with sand sacks. “Inhabitants of all coastal areas were shifted to cyclone shelters,” he said. Sitakunda UNO Nazmul Islam Bhuiyan said that water flooded several areas of the upazilas. Anwara upazila administration said most of the areas of Raipur and Juidondi unions were inundated.Banshkhali residents said water entered Khankhanabad area of the upazila. Officials said dried food has been distributed among displaced people who took refuge in cyclone shelters.
