UPDATE - 5 killed, over 60 injured as Cyclone Hamoon slams Bangladesh’s coastal belt

UPDATES WITH LATEST DEATH TOLL; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - At least five people were killed and over 60 others injured in Bangladesh’s southeastern Cox’s Bazar and Chattogram districts as Cyclone Hamoon crossed the country’s coastal belt on Tuesday night, officials said.

The cyclone also caused serious property and environmental damage in the coastal region.

“We got reports of three casualties in different parts of Cox’s Bazar due to the effects of Cyclone Hamoon. Some 63 people were also injured. Of them, 18 remained in hospitals,” Muhammad Shaheen Imran, deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, told Anadolu on Wednesday.

About 30,000 houses got damaged, but the report was not complete yet, he added.

The cyclone also disrupted the power supply and mobile network in the district, he added.

The Cox’s Bazar authority evacuated over 40,000 people to government shelters before the cyclone made landfall.

Over 500 people were displaced in Cox’s Bazar as their houses were seriously damaged, Cox’s Bazar disaster management and relief officer Md Jahangir Alom told Anadolu.

Abul Bashar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman, the district deputy commissioner, told Anadolu two more people were killed in the port city of Chattogram while the cyclone caused serious damage to the district.

Bangladesh earlier evacuated about 1.5 million people from its 10 coastal districts.

A depression over the west-central Bay of Bengal and adjoining area had moved north-northeast and intensified into a severe cyclonic storm named Hamoon.

The cyclonic, however, weakened and crossed the Bangladeshi coast early Wednesday, according to Bangladesh Meteorological Department on Wednesday.