A tropical storm off Bangladesh's southeastern coast weakened into a depression yesterday as it made landfall, but several fishing boats were reported missing in rough seas, the weather department and news reports said.
A tidal surge killed at least one fisherman and damaged hundreds of homes, officials said.
The low-pressure system crossed over the coastal districts of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar at around 0300 GMT yesterday, and was heading toward India's northeastern coast, said a bulletin issued by the Meteorological Department, based in the capital, Dhaka.
The depression was causing drizzles and overcast skies in its path, it added.
Cyclones — called typhoons throughout much of Asia and hurricanes in the Western hemisphere — are large-scale rotating storms that generate high winds and typically form at sea before moving inland.
Local television reports said several fishing boats were missing at sea, and storm surges inundated several offshore islands.
Authorities in the coastal region were trying to verify the reports from the remote offshore areas, Osman Gani Mansur, a reporter in Chittagong told the press by telephone.
Several flimsy straw and mud houses and shrimp beds were washed away, the private ATN Bangla network reported. It also said at least 20 fishing boats were reported missing in the Bay of Bengal.
The weather department had warned all fishing boats to stay close to shore on Monday as the storm — packing winds of up to 88kph — headed toward the country's Bay of Bengal coast bordering Myanmar.
Volunteers alerted villagers along the coast and helped people move to cyclone shelters as a precaution. Local authorities and the Red Cross opened monitoring centers and prepared rescue and medical teams.
Inclement weather also halted activities at sea ports and airports along the coast on Monday, while inland river ferry services were canceled. Planes and ships were moved to shelters.
Bangladesh, a low-lying delta, is prone to deadly cyclones and floods.
The country's coastline and offshore islands are dotted with concrete cyclone shelters, where villagers and fishermen take refuge.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of