Amid a great relief, cyclone Mahasen weakened while travelling through Bangladesh coastline, reportedly killing 10 people and damaging hundreds of houses as it moved through Meghna estuary on Thursday afternoon.
The danger over, the authorities have decided to resume operations at Shah Amanat International Airport, Chittagong; Cox’s bazar airport; and Chittagong Maritime Port, a day after their closure . The flight operation will resume on Friday .
The cyclone, which caused heavy downpour in the costal districts, broke and uprooted scores of trees. Low lying areas of the coastal districts were struck by six to seven foot high tidal waves submerging many areas. It first hit Patuakhali coast with wind speed up to 90 kilometres per hour on Thursday morning.
“But it did not gain strength in the last part of its journey,” said an official of the Bangladesh Met office. Several hundred dwellings in the coastal districts have collapsed amidst a power blackout in the whole region. Maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Mongla have been advised to lower cautionary signal to three as the cyclone Mahasen has weakened.
As part of the preparedness, the authorities had earlier evacuated nearly two million people living in the coastal areas to safety. They have reportedly started leaving the cyclone shelters.