Sidr, the largest cyclone in the history of Bangladesh, ripped through the southwestern coast late Thursday. It was a nightmare for Bangladesh. Not only the coastal area but also the city life was tremendously disturbed. Sidr caused the National Power Grid to collapse completely yesterday morning, which ultimately triggered a knock-on effect on piped water supplies, telecommunication and gas filling station operations.
This hurricane actually hit the coastal area of Bangladesh. But the capital Dhaka was also fallen within it’s grasp. After the thursday midnight, the gusty wind became more furious with heavy rain. At 7 o’clock of Friday morning, the electricity supply was terminated. In evening when I went outside home, I saw the actual catastrophe that was accomplished by Sidr.
On Friday evening, me and my mom went to Motijhil for joining a Doa Mahfil of one of my late relative. I could not refill the CNG cylinder of our car as all the Gas Station was remain closed. So I had to switch the engine in Octane mode. The whole city was tremendously disturbed by the storm. When I was crossing the Rajarbag Police Line, I had to drive very carefully as large trees were uprooted and flattened on the street blocking the traffic. Some people were trying to remove the trees by sawing them, as it is difficult to carry those large trees to other places.
This picture has been taken from the Farmgate area on Friday night. as there were no neon signs, lighted billboards or streetlights for the Power Grid failure; only the headlights of the vehicles glimmered on the street.
Photo Courtesy: The Daily Star
Electronic Communication system came to a halt as there is no electricity supply. Even the internet was disrupted! The cellular telecommunication was very much sporadic, as sometimes network coverage was totally blank. After evening, I could not contact anyone using my mobile phone as the network strength indicator of my phone had suddenly disappeared! The hurricane affected the National Power Grid heavily. Today when I am writing this post, still there is a discontinuous supply of electricity.
As I mentioned earlier, it was the most robust cyclone in the history of Bangladesh. It was stronger than those of 1970’s and 1991’s. Still the damages could not be measured properly, but it is sure that it will be an enormous amount.
Please… be at the side of the victims. They need your help.