People are being evacuated from the coastal areas of the country following the government directives ahead of the forthcoming cyclone ‘Bulbul’, that is expected to make landfall on Saturday evening in the areas.

Earlier in the morning, the government has asked the authorities concerned to take the people of coastal to nearby cyclone centres by 2:00 pm.

Disaster Management and Relief Secretary Md Shah Kamal made the announcement in a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Disaster Management Coordination Committee on Saturday morning.

Local administrations were making announcements on loudspeakers asking people to move away from the coastal areas and take shelters to nearby cyclone centres in Chattogram, Shathkhira and Pirojpur districts.

Earlier, Bangladesh raised the storm danger signal on Saturday morning as cyclone ‘Bulbul’ intensified further.

Mongla and Payra ports have been advised to hoist great danger signal-10 as cyclone Bulbul is approaching towards the coasts in Bangladesh and is likely to make landfall on the Sundarbans in the afternoon.

The Met Office has also advised to hoist the great danger signal No 10 for nine coastal districts in the region while danger signal No 9 for the maritime port of Chattogram and five nearby districts, said a special bulletin at 8:00am.

Besides, the maritime port of Cox’s Bazar has been advised to hoist local warning signal no. 4, according to the bulletin.

Low-lying areas of the coastal districts are “likely to be inundated by storm surge of 5-7 feet height above normal astronomical tide” because of the approaching cyclone.