Cyclone Mahasen Hits Long Bangladesh Coast

[eastwatch]

Mahasen hits Patuakhali, Bhola | The Daily Star

THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013
Mahasen hits Patuakhali, Bhola
1 dies in Lalmohon upazila

STAR ONLINE REPORT

A satellite image of Cyclone Mahasen hitting Bangladesh shoreline Thursday. Image courtesy: Bangladesh Meteorological Department

Cyclone Mahasen made landfall at Kuakata in Patuakhali around 9:00am Thursday, after journeying over 1,700 kilometres from its place of origin in the Bay of Bengal.

The full account of the destruction was not available immediately. But our correspondent confirmed that at least a man, aged 75 years, as the slow-paced cyclonic storm left a trail of destruction along its trajectory.

Maintaining a 21kph race for quite a few hours, the cyclonic storm lashed Kuakata coast, a very popular tourist destination, on its course to hit some more coastal districts.

Mahasen, which developed into a cyclonic storm from an area of low pressure over the southern Bay of Bengal in early May, later journeyed towards Rangabali upazila, according to officials of local Met office.

The cyclone later moved eastwards to Rangabali upazila of the district and Charfassion of Bhola, added the officials.

Meanwhile, talking to The Daily Star, Anisur Rahman, project implementation officer of Charfassion Upazila Control Room, said the cyclone lashed Char Kukri Mukri creating havoc, a remote island of Bhola, around 10:00am.

The cyclone was centred about 150 kilometers southwest of Chittagong port, 140km southwest of Cox’s Bazar port and 140km south of Mongla port at 11:00am, Shah Alam, director of BMD told reporters during a press briefing at Met office.

According to witnesses, the whole structure of a tin-roofed residential hotel was razed to the ground and two others were damaged as the storm hit Kuakata with strong wind and heavy shower at 9:00am.

None of the boarders was injured as all of them were shifted to nearby cyclone centres before the cyclone made landfall.

Over 1,000 of kutcha houses in Kalapara, Golachipa, Dasmina and Rangabali upazilas of the district have been destroyed so far, said local Relief and Disaster Rehabilitation Department.

CASUALTY

A 75-year old man died as a sharp branch of tree pierced through his abdomen when he tumbled on it amid strong gusty wind in Dhaligournagar area of Lalmohan upazila of Bhola around 8:15am.

Abdul Kashem was going to a shelter in the area, said Khandaker Mizanur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Lalmohan Police Station.

At least 60 people were injured in house and tree collapse in the upazila, said Liakat Ali, upazila nirbahi officer of Rangabali.

Total 123 millimeter rainfall was recorded in the district in 12 hours till 6:00am today, it said.

Coastal areas were remaining under five feet water around 10:00am when this report was filed.

Several mobile phone towers were uprooted, disrupting telecommunication network.

There was no power in none of the upazilas since 10:00 Wednesday night. The district headquarters is without power since 7:00am.

The authorities have raised the danger level to seven, on a scale of 1 to 11, for Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar ports. Coastal districts of Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur, Bhola, Barguna, Patuakhali, Barisal and their offshore islands and chars (shoals) will come under danger signal number seven.

Meantime, maritime port of Mongla has been advised to keep hoisted danger signal number five.

Pirojpur, Jhalkathi, Bagherhat, Khulna and Satkhira coastal districts and their offshore islands and chars will come under the danger signal.

Storm surge of 8-10 feet height above normal astronomical tide may inundate the low-lying areas of the coastal districts of Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur, Barguna, Bhola, Patuakhali, Barisal, Pirojpur, Jhalkathi, Bagherhat, Khulna, Satkhira and their offshore islands and chars.

According to the BMD bulletin, Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur, Barguna, Patuakhali, Barisal, Bhola, Pirojpur, and their offshore islands and chars are likely to experience wind speed up to 90-100kph in gusts or squalls with heavy to very falls during the passage of the storm.

Meantime, Jhalkathi, Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira and their offshore islands and chars are likely to experience wind speed up to 80-90kph in such gusts or squalls with heavy to very falls during the passage of the storm.

All fishing boats, trawlers and marine vessels over North Bay have been advised to remain in shelter till further notice.

 

[eastwatch]

Please click the link to see the route of Mahasen.

Timeline | The Daily Star

THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013
CYCLONE MAHASEN
Timeline

The trajectory of Cyclone Mahasen. Map by Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System

May 16:

9:00am: Mahasen hits Khepupara of Patuakhali. No details available immediately.

6:00am: It moves slightly north-northeastwards, setting its course towards may hit Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar coast.

Zero hours: Cyclone Mahasen set to cross between Patuakhali (Khepupara)-Teknaf coast near Chittagong by noon. Moving slightly north-northeastwards, it is centred about 555kmsouthwest of Chittagong port, 500km southwest of Cox’s Bazar port and 445km south southwest of Mongla port.

Maximum sustained wind speed within 54km of the storm centre is about 62kph rising to 90kph in gusts or squalls.

May 15

10:00pm: It is centred about 635km south southwest of Chittagong port, 580km southwest of Cox’s Bazar port and 515km south southwest of Mongla port.

6:00pm: The cyclone is centred about 700km south southwest of Chittagong port, 640km southwest of Cox’s Bazar port and 575km south southwest of Mongla port.

Afternoon. The cyclone moves slightly north-northeastwards after approaching Bangladesh coastline within around 600km.

May 14: At midnight, Mahasen’s eye was about 1,235km south-southwest of Chittagong port, 1,160km south-southwest of Cox’s Bazar port and 1,145km south-southwest of Mongla port.

May 13: At 1:00am, the eye of the cyclone is around 1,425km south-southwest of Chittagong port, 1,345 km south-southwest of Cox’s Bazar coast and 1,350km south of Mongla port.

May 12: Mahasen moves slowly towards the Chennai coast of India with the possibility of shifting its course towards Bangladesh.

May 11: The cyclone Mahasen in the Bay of Bengal is moving north-westwards, prompting the country’s three maritime ports — Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Mongla — to hoist local cautionary signal 3.

9:00am: Gradually gaining forward momentum, the depression attains gale-force winds and is designated as Cyclonic Storm Mahasen.

It is centred about 1,700km south-southwest of Chittagong port, 1,610km south southwest of Cox’s Bazar port and 1,705km south southeast of Mongla port.

May 10: Originating from an area of low pressure over the southern Bay of Bengal early May, Cyclone Mahasen, after remaining nearly stationary, consolidates into a depression.

 

[Parul]

Cyclone Mahasen hits southern Bangladesh

Thousands have moved to shelters in Bangladesh but in Burma, authorities have encountered a deep reluctance to move among Rohingya refugees

Cyclone Mahasen has begun crossing Bangladesh's southern coast, as people packed into evacuation shelters.

The storm hit Patuakhali district on Thursday with winds of up to 100km/h (60mph), and was heading for the ports of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar.

One person has been reported dead, Bangladeshi officials say.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate low-lying areas in Bangladesh and Burma, and take shelter in cyclone centres.

However, some displaced people in Burma have resisted calls for them to evacuate camps in Rakhine state.


BBC Weather update on Mahasen
The United Nations has warned that 8.2m people could be at risk from Mahasen in Bangladesh, Burma and north-east India.

Centres crowded

The Bangladeshi authorities have raised the danger level to seven out of 10 for low-lying areas around Chittagong and Cox's Bazar.

However, Shamsuddun Ahmed, deputy director of Bangladesh's Meteorological Department, told AFP news agency the cyclone was not expected to cause serious damage as it was "not severe".

The cyclone "did not gain strength in the last part of its journey as it hit the coast", he said.

In Bangladesh, there have been reports of waist-deep water submerging low-lying areas and houses being damaged. There are also fears of a storm surge.

All schools, colleges and some hotels have been declared cyclone shelters, the BBC's Mir Sabbir reports from Dhaka. These centres are crowded and people are still rushing in, our correspondent adds.

Airports in Cox's Bazar and Chittagong have been shut until the danger subsides.

In Burma, meanwhile, tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims living in camps in low-lying areas of Rakhine state are feared to be at risk.

They were displaced by ethnic violence last year and many are reluctant to move from the camps.

Hla Maung said he lost his mother and two young daughters during the clashes between Muslims and Buddhists.

"I lost everything. I don't want to go anywhere. I'll stay here. If I die, I want to die here," he said.

Rakhine state said it had moved some 36,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) from camps, Kirsten Mildren, from the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), told the BBC.

But she said the evacuation was "not moving as fast as we'd like - it's certainly a race against time. We're finding it very difficult to convince [people] to move to higher ground or safer buildings."

Burmese planning minister Tin Naing Thein claimed that in all more than 166,000 people had been relocated, but there was little evidence of a mass evacuation in reports from the affected area.

Correspondents say the Burmese evacuations are seen as a test of the government's resolve to assist the Rohingya, amid allegations that state forces stood by or even participated in last year's anti-Muslim violence.

On Tuesday, President Thein Sein was quoted as urging officials to "carry out relief work on humanitarian grounds for all, regardless of race and religion", at a meeting to co-ordinate relief efforts for Cyclone Mahasen.

Cyclone Mahasen has already taken a toll. Though the storm did not make landfall in Sri Lanka, the associated heavy rain caused floods and mudslides which killed at least seven people, according to the country's Disaster Management Centre.

At least 50 Rohingya Muslims drowned on Tuesday when boats evacuating them from the path of the cyclone capsized off western Burma.


Projected Path:

 

[eastwatch]

News from Ekattor TV said at around 1:30 pm BD time Thursday that cyclone Mahasen has become weak after hitting the coastal region of Bangladesh. It is a great relief for the people of Bangladesh, India and Burma. Thanks God!!!!

 

[third eye]

The title should be " along BD coast.." not ' Long BD coast.."