DHAKA (Reuters) - A cyclone battered the coast of Bangladesh on Saturday killing at least five people after lashing India's east coast with heavy rain and wind.
Authorities in low-lying Bangladesh have relocated about 500,000 people into 3,500 shelters, the disaster minister said, even as Cyclone Roanu killed three people in house collapses and two in landslides.
"We've shifted most of the people who are vulnerable," Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya told a news conference.
"All-out preparations are in place to tackle the damage".
Officials suspended flights at Chittagong airport in the southeast while the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority imposed restrictions on the movement of all ships and ferries.
"The sea will remain very rough near the cyclone center," it said.
The storm had begun crossing the coast near Chittagong and was expected to have moved inland within four or five hours, the weather office said.