Season's first nor'wester lashes Dhaka, 11 other districts

The season's first nor'wester lashed the capital Dhaka and some other parts of the country this afternoon.

Beginning at around 4:30pm, the nor'wester, locally known as Kalbaishakhi, was accompanied by little rainfall and it swept across Dhaka and also hit at least 11 districts, including Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Gazipur, Madaripur, Barishal, Rajbari and Faridpur.

The strong winds whipped up dust which covered most parts of the capital, affecting pedestrians.

No major incidents of casualty or damage were reported so far due to the nor'wester.

The winds clocked at about 52 kilometres per hour on average across Dhaka and reached about 80 km/hr near Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, said the meteorological office.

The average rainfall in the capital was 2.4 milimetres, Shamsuddin Ahmed, director at Bangladesh Meteorological Department, told The Daily Star.

Shamsuddin Ahmed said they forecast that several moderate or strong type nor'westers with moderate rain and lightning may hit the country's north, northeast and middle parts this month.

According to today's weather forecast, rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely to occur at one or two places over Rangpur, Rajshahi, Dhaka, Khulna and Sylhet divisions.

FLIGHTS DISRUPTED

Two flights of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and one flight of US-Bangla Airlines landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital after those were diverted to different airports from Dhaka due to Nor'wester.

The flight BG 416 of Biman which was coming from Chattogram was diverted to Osmani International Airport in Sylhet, while flight BG 434 from Cox's Bazar was diverted to Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram.

The US-Bangla Airlines flight from Doha was also diverted to Chattogram Airport, said Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, director at HSIA.

Flight operations suspended due to Nor'wester in the afternoon at the HSIA has become normal at present, Touhidul added.