DHAKA, Bangladesh: Cyclone Remal, which made landfall on the Bangladeshi coast on Sunday night, has resulted in the deaths of at least eight people in Bangladesh and two in neighboring India, affecting over a million people and causing extensive damage to homes and cropland, officials reported on Monday.
The cyclone brought heavy rainfall and storms across the country, including the capital Dhaka, before weakening into a cyclone and further into a land-deep depression. The Bangladeshi Met Office lowered the danger signal from 10 to 3 for coastal areas in a Monday bulletin.
The Disaster Management and Relief Ministry reported the evacuation of over 800,000 people from 16 coastal districts. Local broadcaster NTV confirmed at least eight fatalities in the affected districts.
Chattogram Divisional Commissioner Md Tofail Islam told Anadolu Agency that information gathering was hampered due to widespread power and mobile network outages. “Thousands more sought shelter as the cyclone hit,” he said.
In the coastal Khulna district, Md. Nazmul Hussein Khan reported that over 452,000 people were affected, with more than 76,900 households destroyed and extensive damage to 12,700 hectares of cropland and 5,575 shrimp enclosures.
Arabinda Biswas, an official in the severely impacted Bagerhat district, reported 45,000 destroyed households and widespread power outages in submerged villages.
Cyclone Remal, which made landfall at 9 p.m. local time (1500GMT), had already caused significant disruption with heavy rains, storms, and high tides. UNICEF Bangladesh warned that 8.4 million people, including 3.2 million children, are at risk from the cyclone’s devastating impacts on health, nutrition, sanitation, and safety.
Effects in India
In India, officials in West Bengal reported two deaths and extensive damage to trees and houses due to Cyclone Remal. Flight operations resumed Monday morning at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, which had been closed on Sunday due to the cyclone.
India’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is actively engaged in restoration efforts, with 14 rescue teams deployed across West Bengal, closely monitoring the post-landfall situation.–News Desk