Cyclone toll in Bangladesh and India rises to 65

KOLKATA – A powerful cyclone that smashed into low-lying Bangladesh and India killed at least 65 people, including in torrential rainstorms in its wake, state government officials and media said on May 29.

Cyclone Remal, which made landfall in the evening of May 26 with fierce gales and crashing waves, moved slowly inland, causing floods and triggering landslides.

Mr Azizur Rahman, director of the state-run Bangladesh Meteorological Department, said the cyclone was “one of (the) longest in the country’s history”, blaming climate change for the shift.

In Bangladesh, which bore the brunt of the cyclone, at least 17 people died, according to the disaster management office and police.

Some drowned, while others were killed by debris, falling trees or electrocuted by falling power lines.

In India, 47 people died, government and media reports said, updating an earlier toll of 21 from the country.

The majority were killed in north-eastern Mizoram state, where 28 died.

That included 14 workers crushed in a quarry, which collapsed on May 28 in the rainstorm, Mizoram’s government said in a statement.

A total of 10 people died in West Bengal state, senior government official Sumit Gupta said on May 29.

At least 10 other people died in the states of Assam, Nagaland and Meghalaya, according to reports cited by the Hindustan Times.

Cyclones hit Bangladesh and India each year, but the number of superstorms hitting the densely populated coast has increased sharply, with scientists saying climate change is fuelling more storms.

But better forecasting and more effective evacuation planning have dramatically reduced death tolls. AFP