Chittagong // Cyclone Roanu killed 23 people in Bangladesh on Saturday and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes amid strong winds and heavy downpours.
Authorities took more than 500,000 people into shelters as the cyclone made landfall just after noon, packing winds of up to 88 kilometres per hour.
“It has struck the southern coastal areas of Barisal and Chittagong with a wind speed of 62-88kph," said Omar Faruq, a government meteorological department official.
Disaster authorities have shut down sea and river ports and ordered fishing trawlers not to go out, while the meteorological department warned of landslides in south-eastern hill districts.
Several towns and villages were flooded on the Banshkhali coast in Chittagong after the cyclone triggered a 1.5-metre storm surge, the Red Cross’s cyclone preparedness official Ruhul Amin said.
“Thousands of villagers were forced to flee their homes after the storm surge flooded their villages," he said.
The peripheral wind of the cyclone struck coastal areas early on Saturday morning, causing widespread devastation across the impoverished region.
“Seven people drowned at Banshkhali after the storm surge breached dykes at two places, inundating coastal villages," said Shah Alam, a police inspector in Chittagong.
Three people, including a mother and her daughter, drowned on Hatiya island after seawater flooded their village.
Mr Alam said a mother and her young child were killed after rains triggered a landslide which buried their hillside home at Sitakundu in Chittagong district.
Others died on Bhola island and in Cox’s Bazar, Laxmipur and Patuakhali, officials said.
Conditions appeared to be improving by early evening, paving the way for people to return to their homes. “So far we have moved more than 500,000 people to cyclone shelters," said Reaz Ahmed, the head of the disaster management department.
“Many have started to return to their homes as the wind speed has abated," he added.
* Agence France-Presse
