Bangladesh has suspended all river transport services as a powerful tropical cyclone in the Bay of Bengal heads towards the country’s southern coast, officials said on Thursday.
“With wind speeds of up to 180 kilometres per hour within 74 kilometres of its centre, Cyclone Fani is likely to make landfall on the coast of India’s Odessa state on Friday.
“And then move towards Bangladesh,’’ Shamsuddin Ahmed of the meteorological department said.
Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, the State Minister for Shipping, told newsmen in Dhaka that river transport services would remain suspended until further notice as the cyclone approaches.
The government has deployed volunteers to 19 coastal districts that are particularly vulnerable to tropical storms in an effort to move residents to shelters.
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Enamur Rahman, the Minister for Disaster Management, said the army and navy troops, as well as 56,000 volunteers, had been alerted in the coastal districts.
According to Rahman, dry food, drinking water and other relief materials had been dispatched.
The meteorological department has added that heavy rain is likely to batter most parts of Bangladesh.
Offshore islands and low-lying parts of coastal areas may experience a significant rise in water levels.
A powerful cyclone devastated the south-eastern parts of Bangladesh on April 29, 1991, killing over 100,000 people and rendering millions homeless. (NAN)
