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Tidal surge in off-shore islands

Hurricane hits coastal areas: 500 feared killed
At least 500 people were feared killed, many reported missing and several thousand injured aS a powerful hurricane hit the country’s southeastern coast yesterday, leaving a trail of death and destruction, reports UNB.
Official sources said about 400 peaple were feared killed in Cox's Bazar district and more than 100 fishermen reported missing in Patuakhali while five deaths were confirmed in Chittagong city.
The DIG of Chittagong Range Police, Abdur Rahim, who had wireless contacts with field level officials, told UNB correspondent Shahnowaz at 11:30 lastnight that 300-400 people might have been killed in Tek-naf, St Martin Island.• Mah-eskhali, Kutubdia and Ukhia, the-worst cyclone-hit areas in Cox's Bazar.
The most deaths were feared caused by storm, tidal surge and house collapse, said the top divisional police official, who lost wireless contacts after 5 pm due to power failure.
Red Crescent sources said at least 100 fishermen were missing in Patuakhali during the
terrible storm. However, they could not say anything about the casualty in Cox's Bazar district.
Officials and volunteers engaged in rescue operation feared that the death toll might increase with detailed information available from remote and inaccessible islands of Cox's Bazar, Chittagong and other coastal districts.
A source at the Radio Control Room of Chittagong Port told UNB at 11:15 pm that a fishing boat "Machhranga" capsized at the Fish Harbour in the Karnaphuli channel.
Sarwar Zaman Nizam MP of BNP said that 90 per cent dwelling houses in his Anwara constituency were flattened by the cyclonic storm.
Army and navy personnel have been deployed to conduct the rescue operation alongwith the civil administration. Some army units were engaged in clearing the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway which was blocked by fallen trees at some points.
"All preparation have been taken to launch rescue and relief operation." said State Min-
ister for Labour Manpower. MA Mannan, who is staying in Chittagong to coordinate the government activities.
Our Staff Correspondent reports: The cyclone pounded the coastal districts of Bhola, Feni, Chittagong and Cox's Bazar and off-shore islands including St Martine whipping up tidal surges upto 7 feet, deluging low lying areas along the coast before petering away towards north-eastern India. It crossed the Chittagong-Feni coast through Shitakunda at about 8:30 pm. and turned into a land depression.
Before weakening, the cyclone battened the coastal areas of Barisal. Patuakhali. Bar-guna, Noakhali and Laxmipur. whipping up two to three feet tidal surge.
Its core, packing 230 kph. struck the funnel shaped estuary of Meghna near Sitakundu at 8:30 pm. But the low tide apparently saved many as the
-►ciwzv not ao (ugh, Thy Starts' Chittagong correspondent Nurul Alam reported.
The Daily Star Chief Photographer AKM Mohsin and Correspondent Mizan All reported at 11:40 pm from a dark and dank port city, reeling under a heavy pounding of rains in the aftermath of the storm, that trees fell like matchsticks, littering the streets of the city.
People were still wandering in search of a shelter when their straw huts and tin sheds collapsed under heavy winds and blasting showers till midnight.
Firemen were seen clearing the debris.
Mohsin reported that he. along with other newsmen negotiated the howling winds when the eye of the storm swept the Highway to Chittagong as their vehicle zigzagged its way through fallen trees, snapped wires and crumbled electric poles.
This was the scene all the way down Comilla when they dared to drive. Tumbled cars and trucks and buses littered the road alongside the debris of trees and twisted power lines.
Preliminary reports said that five people were killed and over a hundred wounded in Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar as their homes collapsed. Roof of a police barrack in Chittagong city was blown away when the core of the hurricane, packing upto 230 kph speed, tore through the districts before it moved towards north-eastern India.
Mohsin quoted the Mayor of
Chittagong ABM Mohiuddin Choudhury at 12-30 last night that eight wards in the city suffered severe damage. These are North and South Patenga. Ban-dartila. South Halishahar. North and South Kattali, Lal-diar Char, Char Para and Maij-para.
The Mayor told The Daily Star 76 relief centres have been opened in the city to provide cooked food to the affected.
Besides, the corporation mobilised 72 vehicles to shift people to safety, the Mayor said. He was in touch with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, apprising her of the latest situation.
Two children. 5-year-old Nasima Begum and 1-year-old Joshim, died when a wall collapsed at Station Road in Chittagong.
Abdullah, 50, died in hospital after a tree fell on him in Kadamtali area. Another person, 32-year-old Ullah Ahsan, was killed in lightning at Mo-4»eshkhs4Mn-the-afteniDon. His body was sent to the Cox's Bazar general hospital morgue for autcpsy.
According to Disaster Management an,d Relief Ministry's control room, the cyclone hit Chittagong at around 4 pm yesterday, with winds of more than 200 kph. The storm cut the city's electric supply at 2 pm.
T&T operator at Chittagong's Anwara thana Shamsuddin said: "All the kutcha houses in front of our three-storied building have been demolished".
UNB reported that a tidal surge of 5 to 7 feet breached an under-construction cross-dam. entering five villages of Raipura union under Anwara thana and severely damaging almost 40,000 houses’.
The low-lying areas of Shahpori Deep, Nila, Bahar Chara. Tambrue and Palankhali under Teknaf thana were inundated by the tidal surge which broke the coastal embankment in several places.
Sources said four border outposts of the Bangladesh Rifles had been withdrawn from the cyclone-affected areas.
A UNB report said some remote thanas of coastal districts were cut off from their district headquarters when disrupted electric supply rendered wireless communication facilities inoperative.
Officials at the control room at the Bangladesh Secretariat, said that Cox's Bazar airport was inundated by a tidal surge at 2 pm. They added that Chittagong's telecommunication
line with Cox’s Bazar was cut off at 4:35 pm and that of Teknaf at 2 pm.
Our Staff Correspondent from Barisal reports: Offshore islands of Monpura, Char Za-hiruddin. Char Nizam. Dhal Char. Char Patila in Bhola were inundated by three to four feet water.
Low-lying areas of Barisal. Patuakhali. Bhola. Jhalakathi, Pirojpur and Barguna were submerged. Thousands of families in these southern districts shifted to safer places.
Earlier, more than one million people in the coastal areas were evacuated by volunteers and local administration to different cyclone shelters.
According to official handout. thirty three thousand volunteers worked since Thursday afternoon to evacuate the people through all modes of transport.