Strong tidal surge swamps the coast

People of Patuakhali town catch fish on roads yesterday as a depression over the Bay triggered unusually high tide inundating the district headquarters.Photo: Focus Bangla

Over a hundred fishermen went missing when their trawlers capsized in rough waters caused by depression in North Bay Monday night.
Accompanying tidal surges inundated Patuakhali town, Nijhumdwip and more than 100 other offshore islands across the coastal districts, leaving thousands of people marooned.
The Met Office advised the authorities to hoist local cautionary signal number three and asked all fishing boats to hit shelters immediately until further notice.
The depression still hovering on the Northern Bay is expected to cross to Orissa coast, slowly though.
Tidal surges, whipped up by the full moon, snapped ferry services on the Kuakata route in Patuakhali and washed away a flood-prevention embankment along the Baleshawar River in Bagerhat.
Citing survivors, reports from Khulna, Bagerhat and Bhola said 25 trawlers with over 300 fishermen on board were caught in gusty winds, accompanied by driving rain, and went under.
They said the winds packed speeds of up to 80 kilometres per hour.
About 200 fishermen managed to swim ashore. The missing could not be traced till 6:00pm yesterday, Coast Guard sources said.
Besides, five fishing trawlers capsized in rivers at Kachikhali in Bagerhat's Sharankhola upazila and four others in Bhola. All fishermen, except one, managed to hit the riverbank.
Meanwhile several hundred people at Khalshikhali village of Southkhali union and Hilbunia village of Rayenda union in Sharankhola upazila became homeless when two embankments collapsed inundating their villages.
They were taken to safer places, our correspondent from Khulna reported.
In Patuakhali five ferry services on Kuakata route were closed as water flowed above the danger level. The district headquarters also went under water, our local correspondent said.
In Noakhali, tidal surges left about 10,000 people marooned on small islands in the district. The entire Nijhumdwip went under water five-six feet of water.
The depression was about 575km west-southwest of Chittagong port, 560km west-southwest of Cox's Bazar, and 365km southwest of Mongla port at about 3pm yesterday.
The Met Office said the sea will remain very rough under the depression's influence. Other low-lying areas in Noakhali, Feni, Laxmipur, Bhola, Barisal, Patuakhali, Barguna, Pirojpur, Jhalakati, Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira and their offshore islands and chars are likely to be inundated by tidal surges about 2-3 feet high above normal astronomical tide.