Cyclone Sitrang: Hundreds of thousands evacuated in Bangladesh as country braces for storm

Authorities in Bangladesh were evacuating hundreds of thousands of people on Monday before Cyclone Sitrang made landfall amid fears of heavy damage to houses and crops and the disruption of road and power links.

Approaching from the Bay of Bengal, Sitrang was expected to hit the southern coast near the Khepupara area of the Barishal-Chittaging early on Tuesday, with winds gusting up to 88 kilometres (55 miles) per hour, the weather office said.

It forecast a storm surge of up to three metres (10 feet) that could swamp mud dwellings along the coast, uproot communication towers and inundate roads.

All the people from the dangerous areas along the coastal belt were being evacuated to safer places, said Enamur Rahman, the junior minister for disaster management.

More than 7,000 cyclone shelters were set up to accommodate 3 million people, he said.

A woman was killed by a falling tree in southwestern Narail district, local police said.

"It has been raining heavily all day long. We are just praying to Allah to save us," Rohingya refugee Mohammed Taher told Reuters by phone.

Aid workers have stockpiled emergency items such as food, tarpaulins and water purification tablets in refugee camps housing more than a million Rohingya in flimsy shelters in Cox's Bazar.

Officials also advised nearly 33,000 Rohingya refugees, moved from camps to a flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, to stay indoors.

Authorities in India's West Bengal were also preparing to face the cyclone.

A heavy rainfall alert has been issued for coastal areas of West Bengal.

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Sanjeev Bandopadhyay, deputy director of the India Meteorological Department, said the cyclone had intensified as it moved over the Bay of Bengal.

It was likely to skirt past West Bengal's Sunderbans region, but several areas would receive heavy rainfalls.

Disaster relief teams were stationed in the coastal towns and tourist attractions such as Digha, Bakkhali and Sagar Island.

Bandopadhyay said water in all the rivers in the Sunderbans delta were rising and may reach up to 10 to 15 meters during Sitrang's landfall.

The two neighbouring countries have experienced increasing extreme weather in recent years causing large-scale damage.

Environmentalists warn that climate change could lead to more disasters, especially in densely populated Bangladesh.

(Reuters)