Homes damaged as cyclone lashes Bangladesh

A cyclone packing winds of up to 90 kilometres (56 miles) an hour lashed Bangladesh's southeastern coastal area, damaging houses and uprooting trees, officials said Saturday.Cox's Bazar police chief Motiur Rahman told AFP few casualties were reported after Cyclone Bijli weakened before making landfall late Friday.

"The cyclone was not very strong. We took precautionary measures and all people living in low-lying areas went to shelters," he said, adding that those evacuated were allowed to return home on Saturday morning.

"Dozens of thatched houses were destroyed in the cyclone and some trees were uprooted."Three people had died, including a 50-year-old man and a month-old baby, both of whom had medical conditions that deteriorated while being moved to the shelters."A nine-year-old boy was also killed after a tree fell on his family's corrugated tin-roofed thatched house during the cyclone," Rahman said. Chittagong district administrative chief Farid Uddin Ahmed, overseeing the emergency response along the 300-kilometre (186-mile) southeastern coast, said rescue workers were still trying to reach remote areas."We are still waiting for final reports of damage. Some houses have been hit but overall the damage is minimal because the tide was low which meant the tidal surge was not too severe."

The port at Chittagong, the biggest in Bangladesh, reopened at midday Saturday, an official said and fishermen set sail as rough seas subsided.

AFP