1,100 reported killed in Bangladesh storm

November 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment

A relative of a Bangaldeshi cyclone victim expresses her grief beside his body at Goyara village in the Rupsha subdistrict of Khulna district some 320 kms south of Dhaka, 16 November 2007. A powerful cyclone smashed into southern Bangladesh killing at least 26 people as it uprooted trees, destroyed homes and forced thousands to take refuge in shelters, officials said. DHAKA, Bangladesh – A cyclone that slammed into Bangladesh’s coast with winds up to 155 mph has killed at least 1,100 people with hundreds more unaccounted for, officials and news reports said Friday.

The United News of Bangladesh — which has reporters deployed across the devastated region — reported the death toll at 1,100 after early tallying 425 dead.

The disaster triggered an international relief effort to help the army-backed interim government cope with helping victims.

Tropical Cyclone Sidr roared across the country’s southwestern coast late Thursday with driving rain and high waves.

“There has been lot of damage to houses made of mud and bamboo and about 60 to 80 percent of the trees have been uprooted” in coastal areas, said Vince Edwards, the Bangladesh director of the U.S.-based Christian aid group World Vision.

Edwards said debris from the storm has blocked roads and rivers, making it difficult to reach all the areas that had been hit.

Thousands of huts flattened
Storm surges nearly 4 feet high inundated low-lying areas and some offshore islands in the 15 coastal districts in the cyclone’s path. Communications with remote forest areas and offshore islands were temporarily lost.

Torrential rain late Thursday and early Friday flooded some streets in the capital, Dhaka, while strong winds sent billboards flying through the air.

In the coastal districts of Barguna, Bagerhat, Barisal and Bhola, residents said the storm flattened thousands of flimsy straw and mud huts, flooded low-lying areas, destroyed crops and fish farms, uprooted trees, electric and telephone poles. Road, rail and river transport also suffered.

By early Friday, the cyclone had weakened into a tropical storm and was moving across the country to the northeast. While skies remained overcast, wind speed had fallen to 37 mph.

Cyclone follows floods
Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation, is prone to seasonal cyclones and floods that cause huge losses of life and property. The coastal area borders eastern India and is famous for the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, a world heritage site that is home to rare Royal Bengal Tigers.

The cyclone, which followed devastating floods in July-September that killed more than 1,000, posed a new challenge to the interim administration, whose main task is to hold free and fair national elections before the end of next year.

Agriculture officials said rice and other crops in the cyclone-battered areas had been badly damaged, causing added suffering to villagers who had earlier lost two crops in the floods.

“Life shall never be easy,” said Mohammad Salam, a farmer in Khulna. “We are destined to suffer.”

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.