Bangladesh advised ports to hoist warning signals and asked all vessels to stay in shelters or close to shores as a tropical storm in the Bay of Bengal was moving towards its coasts, officials said on Sunday. The storm has sent strong winds and rain over the country since Friday, and could last a few more days, the meteorological department said. It said in a bulletin at 0300 GMT on Sunday, the storm was about 715 km (446 miles) southwest of Chittagong port with a maximum wind speed of 60 km (37 miles) per hour, Reuters reported. The storm was likely to intensify and move in a north or northeasterly direction to make landfall between Bangladesh and India. But it did not give an estimated time for landfall. The storm was likely to sweep the coasts with a tidal surge of up to two metres above normal, the met office said.
