WEB DESK
Super cyclone Amphan hit southwestern Bangladesh coastlines bordering India coast Wednesday evening with pounding winds and torrential rains, inflating sea waters causing as high as 12 feet tidal surges with initial reports suggesting at least three casualties.
Meteorologists said the “extremely severe cyclonic storm” was packing maximum sustained winds around 160-170 km/h (100-120 mph) and gusts to 190 km/h (120 mph) as it roared ashore with Khulna, Mongla, Satkhira and the Sundarbans absorbing its main brut in Bangladesh part .
“Amphan will threaten the head of the Bay of Bengal region with torrential rain, widespread damaging winds and extreme storm surge as the storm continues to move inland. Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal, will take a direct hit from the storm,” US-based global storm tracker AccuWeather said.
Initial reports from coastlines suggest the storm ravaged coastlines, washing away coastal embankments at places and claimed so far at least three lives as the onslaught coincided with high tide period.
Bangladeshi met office said the tip of the cyclone hit the coastline just ahead of the evening in southwestern regions including the Sundarbans as predicted earlier and barrelled towards Indian coast.
Officials and Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRC) volunteers reported from the coastal areas that received reports of at least three cyclone deaths with one being a minor child while the storm leveled a huge number of houses, uprooted trees affecting the Sundarbans as well and washed away shrimp enclosures.
BDRC’s cyclone preparedness programme director Nurul Islam Khan told BSS that the child was a victim of house collapse at Galachipa area of Patuakhali.