Kolkota/Dhaka: Severe cyclone ‘SITRANG‘ left at least 9 persons killed, several houses destroyed, trees uprooted and power and communication disrupted in Bangladesh where it made landfall by midnight. Officials in Dhaka said while the final assessment of the damage would be known later, many lives could be saved because of mass evacuation before the cyclone lashed the coastal areas. Capital Dhaka too was flooded with stormwater.
The cyclonic storm over the north Bay of Bengal moved rapidly north-northeastwards with a speed of 56 kmph and crossed the Bangladesh coast between Tinkona and Sandwip close to Barisal between 2130 hours IST and 2330 hours IST of October 24, 2022, with a maximum sustained wind speed of 80-90 kilometres per hour (kmph) gusting to 100 kmph, the India Meteorological Department stated today.
It lay centred at 0230 hours (IST) today over Bangladesh near latitude 24.4ºN and longitude 91.0ºE, about 90 km northeast of Dhaka, 60 km north-northwest of Agartala, and 160 km southwest of Shillong.
Thereafter, the deep depression over Bangladesh (Remnant of Cyclonic Storm “SITRANG”) moved north-northeastward with a speed of 20 kmph and further weakened into a depression and lay centred at 0530 hours IST today, over northeast Bangladesh and neighbourhood near latitude 24.7°N and longitude 91.5ºE, about 150 km northeast of Dhaka, 90 km north-northeast of Agartala, and 100 km south-southwest of Shillong. It further moved north-northeastwards and weakened into a well-marked low-pressure area.
Because of the cyclonic disturbance Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura experience light to moderate rainfall at most places with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall today. Squally wind speed reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph is prevailing over north Bay of Bengal and along and off Bangladesh coast. It gradually decreased becoming 35-45 kmph gusting to 55 kmph by today forenoon.
– global bihari bureau
