Cyclone Hamoon: Over 30,000 houses damaged, power outage since night
More than 30,000 houses have been damaged as Cyclone Hamoon wreaked havoc along the Cox's Bazar coast for approximately two hours on Tuesday night.
The strong winds uprooted many utility poles and snapped the power supply lines across a wide area in the district.
The residents of Cox's Bazar town have been facing a complete blackout since 8:00 pm on Tuesday, with no power, mobile network, internet, or telephone connections. None of the 20 local newspapers could be published from the town due to the power cut.
The entire town remained enveloped in darkness throughout the night.
According to the district administration control room, Maheskhali and Kutubdia islands bore the brunt of the cyclone, with a large number of houses suffering damage and massive tree uprooting.
The vehicular movement remained suspended along the 26 kilometer stretch from Maheshkhali to Shaplapur while electricity connection was severed.
Shahin Imran, deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, told Prothom Alo that the cyclone ripped through the district town, causing the power supply line to collapse and disrupting the mobile network and internet services. The district administration was struggling to communicate with the two upazilas due to the power outage.
It might take one or two days to restore the power supply line and utility service, he added.
Regarding the cyclone, the deputy commissioner said the cyclone was expected to make landfall at midnight, but it hit the coast around 7:30 pm on Tuesday and wreaked havoc on the city over the next two hours.
He added that at least three people died in the cyclone, with another 20 sustaining injuries in the heavy winds.
The deceased are Abdul Khalek, 42, from Cox’s Bazar Pahartali area, Haradhan Dey, 45, from Maheshkhali, and Ashkar Ali, 45, from Chakaria upazila. Abdul Khalek died after being trapped under a collapsed wall, while the remaining two died when trees fell on them due to the heavy winds.
As of 11:00 am on Wednesday, the disaster control room of the district administration could not complete its assessment on the losses suffered across the district.
During a spot visit in the morning, the entire locality, including the main highway, the deputy commissioner’s office, the court building, the police station, Bajarghata, Alir Jahan, the bypass road, Kalatali road, Jhautala, the hilltop circuit house road, and other areas, were found in a collapsed state, with numerous trees and electric poles falling onto the road. Hundreds of shops and houses were damaged, and their roofs were blown away by the strong winds.
According to the municipality office, at least 30,000 houses suffered damages in the cyclone, while more than 100,000 trees were uprooted.
Aktar Kamal, councilor of ward No. 1 of the municipality, said at least 1500 houses were damaged in the cyclone, with more than 50 residences submerged in high tide of the sea. The ward is the home to more than 60,000 labourers engaged in dried fish production. Here, the coastal residences were submerged during the cyclone due to the absence of an embankment.
The disaster control room said the authorities evacuated a total of 40,100 people from the coastal areas to safe shelters, and they returned home on Wednesday.
DC Shahin Imran said they will inspect the damaged residences and distribute tins among the affected people. "We are trying to restore normalcy as soon as possible. We have been working to restore electricity supply in the town within the next 24 hours. However, it may take two or three days to restore power supply to Maheshkhali, Kutubdia, Chakaria, and Pekua areas."
Bivishan Kanti Das, additional deputy commissioner of the district, said the process of enlisting the affected people is underway. They have already allocated a total of Tk 400,000 and 14 metric tonnes of rice for Cox’s Bazar Sadar, Kutubdia, Ramu, Eidgaon, Chakaria, Pekua, and Maheshkhali upazilas.
Meanwhile, the disaster management and relief ministry will allocate 5,000 packets of dry food, he added.