PM monitors cyclone Amphan round the clock

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is monitoring round the clock the situation of super cyclone named ‘Amphan’ in the Bay of Bengal.

“The premier is monitoring the situation of the region’s first super cyclone round the clock, while over three lakh people have already been evacuated for their safety from the coastal areas at her directives,” PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said on Tuesday night.

All the people have been asked to move to shelter centres by Tuesday night, the press secretary said.

Earlier, the authorities concerned have ordered evacuation of maximum possible number of people to safety before midnight tonight as intensifying wrath of the region’s first super cyclone in decades prompts the Met office to contemplate issuing the highest danger signal number in their existing scale.

“The local authorities have been directed to complete the evacuation before midnight today,” State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Enamur Rahman told an emergency news briefing at his office in Dhaka.

Leading global storm tracker AccuWeather earlier today described Amphan as the first super cyclone in the Bay of Bengal since 1999, fearing the “ferocious” storm to unleash extreme impacts across Bangladeshi and northeastern Indian coastlines.

The latest Bangladesh Met office bulletin said the Amphan over west-central bay and adjoining area moved north-northeast wards and lied over the same area (lat. 17.0on, long. 87.0oe).

It said the location of the storm at 3 pm Tuesday was centred at about 785 km southwest of Chattogram Port, 740 km southwest of Cox’s Bazar Port, 670 km south-southwest of Mongla Port and 665 km south-southwest of Payra Port.

The cyclone is likely to move in a north-northeasterly direction and may cross the Bangladesh coast between Khulna-Chattogram during the afternoon or evening of May 20, 2020.