A glance into Cyclone Ramel

Cyclone Remal that formed in the Bay of Bengal is set to make landfall between Sagar Island in West Bengal and Khepupara in Bangladesh around midnight on Sunday, said the Meteorological Department.

Let's have a glance into the severe cyclonic storm:

The cyclone has been named Remal, following the naming system for cyclones in the Indian Ocean region. The name "Remal", which means sand in Arabic, was provided by Oman.

Remal is the first one to occur in the Bay of Bengal during this pre-monsoon season.

Formed over the north Bay of Bengal-has intensified into a severe cyclonic storm by Saturday night.

The cyclone is likely to intensify further and cross Bangladesh coasts with wind speeds of 110 to 120 kilometre per hour (kmph), gusting to 135 kmph around Sunday midnight.

A storm surge of up to 1.5 metres is expected to inundate low-lying areas of coastal Bangladesh at the time of landfall.

Bangladesh Meteorological Department has asked Mongla and Payra ports to hoist great danger signal no 10 as cyclonic storm Remal now lies over Northwest Bay and the adjoining areas. The coastal districts -- Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Barguna, Bhola, and Patuakhali will be under great danger signal number 10.

Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar posts have been asked to hoist great danger signal no 9.

The centre of Cyclone Remal will start crossing the Bangladesh coast around 6:00 pm on Sunday (26 May), said Md Azizur Rahman, director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) .

Landslides may occur in the hilly areas of Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Rangamati, Bandarban, Khagrachari due to heavy rain owing to Cyclone Remal. The risk of landslides is also high in Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar.

Bangladesh evacuated nearly 800,000 people from vulnerable areas on Sunday.