Strong winds and heavy rain lashed coastal areas of Bangladesh and India as Cyclone Remal made landfall late on Sunday, leaving millions without power after power poles were toppled and several trees downed by strong winds.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the storm has crossed the coastal area of Bangladesh’s Mongla port and the Sagar Islands in India’s West Bengal state.
In its latest weather update, IMD said the storm gradually weakened into a cyclone on Monday morning, moving towards the northeast and gradually weakening.
According to the Kolkata Regional Meteorological Department, the landfall process started around 9 am local time in India on Sunday and continued for around five hours.
A man died when a concrete block fell on him during the height of the storm, police said. As the authorities waited to determine the full extent of the damage, roofs were torn off as mud houses were flattened in the two countries’ coastal district.
The low-lying coasts of South Asian neighbors Bangladesh and India have experienced frequent storms in recent years as climate change causes sea surface temperatures to rise. Remal was the first cyclone of the year in the region.
Bangladesh evacuated nearly 800,000 people from the ports of Mongla and Chitta and nine coastal districts on Sunday morning. About 110,000 people were also taken to shelters in India.
Dhaka set up about 8,000 cyclone shelters and mobilized 78,000 volunteers ahead of the storm, while the Indian Navy said it was not waiting for ships, planes, submarines and medical equipment to deploy if needed.
Although early warnings and timely evacuations helped both countries avoid major damage from the storm, the power infrastructure was severely damaged.
Bangladeshi authorities cut power to many areas in advance to prevent disasters, with many coastal cities left in the dark, as downed trees and power cables cause power outages, said officials of the Ministry of Energy.
Rahat Raja, a resident of Bangladesh’s coastal Sathira district, said: “We have been without electricity since last night and my mobile battery will die at any moment.
West Bengal government’s energy minister Arup Biswas said in the first hours of the landfall, there were reports of at least 356 power poles being destroyed and a number of transformers damaged.
More than 50 international and domestic flights had to be canceled in Kolkata on Sunday evening due to suspension of daytime operations. Bangladesh also suspended operations at Mongla and Chitta ports.
“Normal operations of the airport will start from 9 am,” Calcutta Airport Director C Pattavi said, adding that the business area of the airport is open for flooding.
The riverbanks of the Sundarbans delta, the world’s largest mangrove forest shared by India and Bangladesh, have also been badly damaged by the tides, which have breached protective banks in many places.
As television footage showed, many areas were flooded due to heavy rains, including the coastal belt of Kolkata. At least six trees were uprooted and roads were blocked, police said.
The cyclone brought heavy rain to Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, flooding roads and severely affecting commuters.
