Cyclonic storm 'Mahasen' crosses B'desh coastline

• Tens of thousands of people were evacuated to safety as the cyclone approached Bangladesh coastlines
• An armed forces division spokesman said that alongside the army troops, navy kept ready 22 of their ships and the air force their 19 helicopters and four transport planes to launch the rescue campaigns alongside the civil administration.

Dhaka (PTI): The cyclonic storm 'Mahasen' on Thursday hit Bangladesh's southern Patuakhali coast with wind speed up to 90 kilometres per hour, killing one person, according to officials. "The cyclonic storm 'Mahasen' started crossing the coast near Patuakhali (Khapupara). The coast grazing cyclone is likely to move northeasterly direction further and may cross Chittagong-Cox's Bazar coast by noon of May 16," the latest bulletin from Bangladesh Meteorological Department said. It said the storm was centred at 9 am about 270 kms southwest of Chittagong Port, 225 kms southwest of Cox's Bazar Port and 210 kms south of Mongla port. The storm might widen in impact and hit Chittagong-Cox's Bazar coast with speeds up to 100 kilometres per hour. Meanwhile, reports said one person was killed as inflated waters coupled with gusts started ravaging parts of Patuakhali alongside the other areas adjacent to the Bay of Bengal in the region. More than 100 huts have collapsed in Patuakhali amidst a power blackout in the area. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated to safety as the cyclone approached Bangladesh coastlines with Met Office Director Shah Alam saying, "We earlier said the Mahasen could hit the coastline in the morning, but now we expect it to arrive by the midday as its speed has been slowed down". The evacuation campaign was launched on Wednesday night as the met office issued Danger Signal No. 7 in a scale of 10 for northeastern coastlines, while authorities said armed forces were kept ready with troops, ships and helicopters to launch rescue operations when the cyclonic storm hit the coast. The Met office said the cyclone was likely to intensify further and move in a north-northeasterly direction and may cross Chittagong-Cox's Bazar coast by the noon with the storm surge of eight to 10 feet height above normal astronomical tide storm inundating the low lying areas in 13 coastal districts.