Cyclone Sitrang LIVE Updates: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said cyclone Sitrang crossed the Bangladesh coast near Barisal after skirting the West Bengal coast which claimed at least 35 lives in the neighboring country and caused moderate to heavy rain and squally weather in Bengal's coastal districts of South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur, dampening festive spirits on Deepavali and Kali Puja.
At least 35 people were killed and several homes destroyed as cyclone Sitrang ravaged Bangladesh’s southern coastlines and central parts after it made a landfall overnight, according to officials and media reports. Sitrang completed its landfall and weakened to a tropical depression over Bangladesh in the early hours of Tuesday, Prothom Alo, a Bengali daily newspaper, reported.
At least 13 people have lost their lives owing to tropical storms in Bangladesh. Tropical Storm Sitrang brewed in the Bay of Bengal before turning north toward Bangladesh's vast coast, prompting authorities to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people to cyclone shelters Monday. Heavy rains battered the country throughout the day, flooding many areas in the coastal regions across southern and southwestern Bangladesh.
IMD tweeted "the deep Depression over Bangladesh (Remnant of Cyclonic Storm “SITRANG”) further weakened into a Depression and lay centered at 0530 hrs IST of over northeast Bangladesh and neighborhood about 90 km north-northeast of Agartala, and 100 km south-southwest of Shillong."
It is very likely to weaken into a depression and then into a low pressure by Tuesday evening, the IMD said. The weather office warned of squally wind with speed reaching 40 to 50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph along and off West Bengal coast on Tuesday morning, which will decrease gradually to 30 to 40 kmph gusting to 50 kmph by forenoon.
The system, which moved towards Bangladesh from north Bay of Bengal at a speed of 56 kmph, made landfall between Tinkona island and Sandwip near Barisal in Bangladesh between 9.30 pm and 11. 30 pm on Monday with a sustained wind speed of 80 to 90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph, the Regional Met Centre in Kolkata said. The Bangladeshi media reported that the cyclone caused heavy rain in southeastern parts of the neighbouring country.
Cyclone Sitrang weakens into depression over northeastern states in India.
Torrential rainfall continuing since yesterday has triggered severe waterlogging in several parts of Guwahati, Assam.
The tides hit the coast of Bakkhali beach in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, amid cyclone 'Sitrang' alert.
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