Five people, including two children, have died during a cyclone Fani-caused storm in Noakhali, Barguna and Patuakhali, taking the death toll in different parts of the country to at least 10 since Friday morning.
According to reports, an elderly woman and her young grandson died asleep as a tree fell on their home around 3:00am at Charduani village in Patharghata upazila of Barguna.
The dead were identified as Nur Jahan, 50, and her grandson Zahidul, 16, said Hanif Sikder, officer-in-charge at the Patharghata Police Station.
In Noakhali, two children died during the storm, with one of them in Subarnachar and the other in Companiganj upazila in the early hours of Saturday.
Iqbal Hasan, Subarnachar upazila project implementation officer, said a two-year-old boy, identified as Md Ibrahim, son of Abdur Rahman from Char Aminul Haque village, died as a wall collapsed on him.
In Comnpaniganj upazila of Noakhali, a fourth grader died after a tree fell on her.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Faisal Ahmed said the dead was identified as Fahima Akhter from Char Kakra union.
Apart from two deaths, at least 50 people were injured and over 200 houses destroyed during the storm.
In Patuakhali, one man died and two others were injured as a tree fell on them while walking along a road in Kuakata municipal area around 12 noon.
The deceased was identified by name only- Habib, 25.
Two others injured have been admitted to Kuakata Hospital, he added.
Fears of a major disaster have already gone away as the very severe cyclone Fani has weakened into a cyclone before moving over parts of the country from India.
Weakened into a cyclonic storm from a very severe cyclonic one, it was located over Dhaka-Faridpur region at 9:00am, a Met Office bulletin said.
The storm is likely to leave Bangladesh by this afternoon, or 4:00pm, according to the Met office.
Shamsuddin Ahmed, director of the Meteorological Department, told reporters that though the very severe cyclonic storm entered the country, weakening into an ordinary one, he suggested staying at the cyclone shelters until it turns into a depression.
Cyclones typically quickly lose power as they move inland.
Recent technological advances have helped meteorologists forecast weather patterns more accurately and prepare before any looming disaster.
As such, India and Bangladesh evacuated to safety millions of people in efforts to minimise the casualties and took up huge preparations to tackle the post-calamity situation.
