At least nine people have died after a cyclone slammed into Bangladesh, forcing the evacuation of about 1 million people from their homes, officials said yesterday.
Cyclones are a regular menace, but scientists say climate change is likely making them more intense and frequent.
Cyclone Sitrang made landfall in southern Bangladesh late on Monday, but authorities managed to get about 1 million people to safety before the monster weather system hit.
Photo: AFP
“Nine people have died, most by trees falling including three from one family in [the eastern district of] Cumilla,” government official Jebun Nahar said.
People evacuated from low-lying regions such as remote islands and river banks were moved to thousands of multistory cyclone shelters, Bangladeshi Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief Secretary Kamrul Ahsan said.
“They spent the night in cyclone shelters,” Ahsan said.
Photo: AFP
In some cases police had to cajole villagers who were reluctant to abandon their homes, officials said.
Heavy rains lashed much of the nation, flooding cities such as Dhaka, Khulna and Barisal — which witnessed 324mm of rainfall on Monday.
About 33,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, controversially relocated from the mainland to a storm-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, were ordered to stay indoors and there were no reports of any casualties or damage, officials said.
In the neighboring eastern Indian state of West Bengal, thousands of people were evacuated to more than 100 relief centers, officials said, but there were no reports of damage and people were returning home yesterday.
Cyclone Amphan, the second “super cyclone” ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal, which hit in 2020, killed more than 100 people in Bangladesh and India, and affected millions.
Better forecasting and more effective evacuation planning have dramatically reduced the death toll from such storms.
The worst recorded, in 1970, killed hundreds of thousands of people.
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