Bangladesh has issued an alert over Cyclone Komen that is heading towards its coastlines.
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The special weather bulletin said the storm is likely to move in a northerly direction and may cross Bangladesh coast between Barisal-Chittagong coasts by Thursday noon/afternoon. After making landfall in Bangladesh, it will move west- north-westwards and weaken gradually.
Before it made landfall, the cyclone swept Saint Martin’s Island in the far south, killing four people and forcing the evacuation of thousands in different places along the coast, the met office said.
Odisha is already battling floods in the five districts of Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Bhadrak and Balasore and the heavy rains could worsen the situation, officials say.
“Rainfall would occur at most places, with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy at isolated places over the Gangetic West Bengal on July 30-31 and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places on August 1”, said Mritunjay Mohapatra, head of the Cyclone Warning Division of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Winds with speed reaching 50 to 70kmph are expected along and off the Odisha coast and danger signal Number 5 has been sounded at all ports.
Bengal ministers have been asked to visit the flood-hit districts to monitor rescue and relief operations.
Some 60,000 people have been evacuated from coastal villages in the southern resort district of Cox’s Bazar following concerns of high waves, senior local official Anupam Saha said. It also launched the emergency helpline number 1070 for monitoring flood situation.
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Regions around the Bay of Bengal are prone to some of the deadliest storms in history, like the 1970 cyclone that killed hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh.
