Nine people killed as cyclone Roanu batters Bangladesh

A cyclone battered the coast of Bangladesh on Saturday killing at least nine people and injuring more than 100 after lashing India’s east coast with heavy rain and wind.

Authorities in low-lying Bangladesh have relocated about 500,000 people into 3,500 shelters, the disaster minister said, even as Cyclone Roanu killed seven people in house collapses as trees fell on them and two in landslides.

“We’ve shifted most of the people who are vulnerable,” Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya told a news conference.

“All-out preparations are in place to tackle the damage”.

Several people were injured after gusty winds damaged houses and shops and uprooted trees and electric poles. Several areas were inundated by a storm surge of 3-4 foot above normal tide height, officials said.

Authorities are now evacuating people from the hilly region in the Chittagong port city amid fears that heavy rains might cause more landslides.

Officials suspended flights at Chittagong airport in the southeast while the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority imposed restrictions on the movement of all ships and ferries.

“The sea will remain very rough near the cyclone centre,” it said.