Heavy rain batters life

The deep depression formed in the Bay of Bengal made landfall around noon yesterday, causing moderate to heavy rain across the country.

Coastal areas of Khulna, Barishal, Chattogram, and Cox's Bazar have been inundated due to heavy rain in the last two days. The rain will continue today, said the Dhaka Met office.

Bangladesh Meteorological Department Director Shamsuddin Ahmed yesterday said, "The country will experience moderate to heavy rain tomorrow [today] and the overall weather situation will start improving from Sunday [tomorrow]."

He said all the maritime ports have been asked to hoist local cautionary signal number 3.

The depression made landfall around noon yesterday and it would remain on the land till midnight, Shamsuddin said in the evening.

The rough weather disrupted normal life across the country. Launch services on Barishal district's internal routes were suspended yesterday morning due to the inclement weather, reports UNB.

Traffic Inspector Md Kabir of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) said launch services on all internal routes of the district remained suspended since morning.

The ban on the launches services would remain in force until further notice, he added.

Meanwhile, the low-lying areas of Barishal city have been flooded following heavy rain.

Around 400 tourists were stranded on Saint Martin's Island, a popular tourist destination in the country, due to bad weather.

Among the tourists, there are 300 people from a group named "Amar Bazar", from Cox's Bazar. They went to the island on Wednesday on a three-day trip.

Teknaf OC Hafizur Rahman said the tourists were safe and that the island's police outpost was instructed to look after their security.

UNO Md Saiful Islam of Teknaf said he was receiving regular updates from the authorities concerned about the condition of the stranded tourists.

In Patuakhali, the local administration has prepared 800 shelters in coastal areas to tackle any possible cyclone that could be triggered by the depression at the Bay.

A total of 6,000 volunteers and 110 medical teams are also ready, said Matiul Islam Chowdhury, district administrator of Patuakhali, at an urgent meeting at his office on Thursday night.

People should call the national helpline 999 for any kind of help and information, said Sheikh Bilal Hosen, additional superintendent of police in the district.