Shawdehs Desk;

At least 16 people were killed and more than 3.7 million people were affected due to heavy rain and strong wind persisting until Monday night, more than 24 hours after the severe cyclonic storm Remal made landfall between the Bangladesh and West Bengal coasts.

At least six people also died in West Bengal, Agence France-Presse reported, quoting a senior government official of the WB.

Thousands of people became stranded as the storm left vast swathes of coastal and central Bangladesh landscapes inundated, sending salt water inland by breaking fragile, poorly-maintained coastal embankments while dumping massive amounts of rain, up to 260mm in some areas in 24 hours.

Yet another scary night descended on Bangladesh on Monday, with over 1.31 crore people living without electricity amid forecasts of the inclement weather persisting for at least one more day, potentially triggering landslides in many places of the hilly Chattogram division, also home to over one million Rohingya refugees living in rickety houses dotting the slopes of hillocks.

Cities and towns also went under several feet of water, leaving commuters wading, sometimes through water above their waist. The situation in Chattogram was particularly bad.

The storm also uprooted hundreds of trees, toppled scores of electric poles, washed away crops and thousands of fish enclosures, and disrupted road, air, river, and rail travel through Monday.

The storm also prompted authorities to suspend polls in 19 upazila parishes that were originally set for May 29.

‘The storm is a complete nightmare. The flooding and destruction caused by the storm in unprecedented,’ said Sujon Mia, a resident of Patuakhali town, where each and every street was unmistakably under water until Monday night.

This flooding was not seen even in the great storm of Sidr,’ he said.

New Age correspondent in Patuakhali reported, citing the deputy commissioner’s office, that 3.27 lakh people were stranded in floodwater across the district, where 210.6mm of rainfall was recorded in the 24 hours until 6:00pm on Monday.

At 1:00pm on Monday, the Met Office in Patuakhali recorded 114.6kmph of wind blowing through the district. The intense wind surprised locals, who went into a rather relaxed mood after the BMD had lowered its cautionary signals to three from the great danger signal 10 and nine along the coastal region three hours ago at 10:00am.

‘The storm raged for almost two days and remained as strong as in the beginning until it finally died down after 5:00pm on Monday,’ said Maung Mia.

Bangladesh’s southern coastal region is home to largely poor communities barely making ends meet and living in dilapidated dwellings, especially vulnerable to wind and heavy rain.

Disaster management and relief state minister Mohibur Rahman confirmed in a press conference in the afternoon the complete destruction of 35,483 houses and partial damage to another 114,992 houses in the storm.

The minister said that more than 8 lakh people, along with over 52,000 cattle fled the storm to cyclone shelters opened across 19 districts – Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Jhalakati, Barishal, Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Barguna, Bhola, Feni, Cox’s Bazar, Chattogram, Noakhali, Lakshmipur, Chandpur, Narail, Gopalganj, Shariatpur, and Jashore.

The disaster management and relief ministry allocated Tk 6.25 crore in relief to aid the victims of the monstrous storm that affected over 900 unions.

The state minister also confirmed 10 deaths in Khulna, Satkhira, Barishal, Patuakhali, Bhola, and Chattogram. The deaths occurred after houses collapsed, or were crushed under trees or washed away by water.

Six additional deaths were also confirmed by local administrations and New Age correspondents. The other districts where deaths were also confirmed were Cumilla, Lakshmipur, and Mymensingh.

The Bangladesh Water Development Board said on Monday afternoon that coastal rivers continued to swell above their danger marks during high tide and that all affected coastal districts witnessed parts of their protection embankments collapse.

Rural Electrification Board chief engineer Bishwanath Sikder reported heavy damage to 60 Palli Biddyut Samity along coastal districts, leaving 1.26 crore people without power, nearly a third of all REB consumers of 3.54 crore.

The storm tore electric lines in at least 60,000 spots, damaged 1,800 transformers, and 2,000 electric poles and disconnected 40,000 meters, the REB estimated.

‘The problem is we cannot start repair for the storm is still raging,’ said Bishwanath.

The Bangladesh Power Development Board confirmed that 4.53 lakh people were without power in areas under the West Zone Power Distribution Company.

The storm weakened into a deep depression by 3:00pm on Monday and remained stationary over Jashore and its adjacent areas.

The centre of the storm remained stationary over Bangladesh for more than 12 hours, implying that the storm unleashed its forces over the country for a prolonged period.

‘The weather system remained stationary for about 10 hours over Jashore,’ meteorologist Mohammad Omar Faruque told New Age in the afternoon, predicting that the system might dissipate over Bangladesh.

The BMD said that the deep depression was likely to weaken, resulting in more precipitation.

In the 24 hours until 6:00pm, Bangladesh’s highest maximum rainfall of 235mm was recorded in Chattogram. Over the same period of time, Kutubdia recorded 187mm of rainfall, followed by Sandwip, Sitakunda, Chandpur, Noakhali, Feni, Khulna, Satkhira, Barishal, and Gopalganj, which recorded over 100mm of rainfall.

Dhaka recorded 151 mm of rainfall at the same time.

The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre warned that rivers in the north-eastern and eastern regions might rapidly swell over the next 48 hours due to continued rainfall under the influence of the storm.

The BMD also predicted that light to moderate rain accompanied by squally wind is likely to occur at a few places over Rangpur, Mymensingh, Chattogram, and Sylhet divisions and at one or two places over Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Barishal divisions.

• 6 die in West Bengal, India
• 7m affected in Bangladesh
• 31 crore without electricity
• Over 1.50 lakh houses damaged
• Chattogram records highest 235mm rainfall

‘I don’t know what happened to my family. I could not reach them since Sunday,’ said Din Islam, a private security company worker in Dhaka, who hails from Lalmohan, Bhola.

He said that inclement weather hit his village on Saturday night, and the area has been without power ever since. His family could not be reached over the phone because of the lack of mobile network coverage.