Authorities in Bangladesh have evacuated hundreds of thousands of people to safety, even as flight operations resumed at Eastern India’s Kolkata airport on Monday, May 27, after the suspension of services for 21 hours because of Cyclone Remal that hit West Bengal and the surrounding areas around midnight, while making landfall in Bangladesh’s southern coast.
The tropical cyclone in the Bay of Bengal started crossing the coast in the southern district of Khepupara in Bangladesh and in parts of neighbouring Indian state of West Bengal at around 8 PM (1400 GMT), meteorologist Shamim Ahsan told a news briefing in Dhaka, DPA reported.
The cyclone was lashing the coast with wind speed up to 120 kilometres per hour, he said, adding that it might take two hours for the centre to cross the coastline.
Earlier, the government moved more than 800,000 coastal residents to cyclone shelters, a Bangladeshi junior minister said, as the Remal, which the meteorologists categorised as Severe Cyclonic Storm, was heading towards the coast.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh has suspended flights at Shah Amanat International Airport in the southern port city of Chattogram.
Meanwhile, widespread devastation was also reported across West Bengal’s coastal areas, with extensive damage to infrastructure and property a day after Cyclone Remal tore through the coasts.
The cyclone, which made landfall around midnight on Sunday, brought heavy rain in the southern parts of Bengal, including Kolkata.
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