4 years ago
At least 82 in India and Bangladesh killed by Cyclone
All- powerful cyclone to hit eastern India and Bangladesh in over a decade killed at least 82 people, officials said, as rescue teams abrade devastated coastal villages on Thursday, hampered by torn down power lines and widespread flooding.
Mass evacuations before Cyclone Amphan made landfall undoubtedly saved countless lives, but the full extent of the casualties and damage will only be known once communications are restored, officials said.
In the Indian state of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said at least 72 people had ceased– most of them either killed by electricity or killed by trees uprooted by winds flying up to 185 km per hour (115 mph).
In neighbouring Bangladesh, the initial death toll was put at 10.
“I have never seen such a cyclone in my life. It seemed like the end of the world,” said Azgar Ali, 49, a resident of Satkhira district on the Bangladeshi coast.
“All I could do was to pray … Almighty Allah saved us.” When the cyclone barrelled in from the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday, a storm surge of around five meters caused flooding across low-lying coastal areas.
Villagers could be seen trying to lift fallen electricity poles, fishermen hauling their boats out of a choppy sea, and uprooted trees lying strewn across the countryside as shown on the television footage and Reuters’ showed people wading through knee-deep water and buses that had been smashed into each other.
Authorities in both countries managed to evacuate more than 3 million people to storm shelters before Amphan struck. But the effort was focused on communities that lay directly in the cyclone‘s path, leaving villages on the flanks still vulnerable.
The storm is the largest in the Bay of Bengal since 1919. However, its wind speed has slowed down a bit. However, it has been described as a very powerful storm.
The two countries are already battling to stop the spread of the coronavirus, and some evacuees were initially reluctant to leave home for fear of infection in packed storm shelters. Whereas recovery of the destruction has also been started.
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