C T Online Desk: A severe cyclone dubbed as “Ramel” lashed Bangladesh coastlines killing 10 people, leveling thousands of homesteads, smashing seawalls and flooding scores of villages and towns along the southwestern shorelines.
State minister for disaster management and relief Mohibbur Rahman said 10 people were killed in the official count so far while the storm entirely damaged over 35 households and affected over 3.75 million people.
Officials in coastal areas said, of the dead some drowned and others were crushed when their houses collapsed.
The cyclone brought with it strong gales and heavy downpours alongside high tides cutting power and road communication lines while officials said many lives were saved as some 800,000 people were moved to cyclone shelters further inside the mainland.
Weather officials said the expansive Sundarbans forest, the world’s largest mangrove vegetation where the three major rivers of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna meet the sea helped dissipate the worst of the storm.
According to the met office, southwestern Patuakhali was the worst victim of the severe storm where the wind speed rose up to 111 kilometers per hour with tidal surges accompanying the storm flooded and ravaged huge infrastructure including thatched houses.
“The crashing waves virtually washed away everything as it proceeded through the area, particularly Khepupara . . . it became extremely fierce for over half an hour from 1.30 am after the midnight,” a cyclone control room official in Patuakhali said by phone.
