Cyclone Bulbul lashed coastal areas in eastern India and southern Bangladesh overnight, killing three people and forcing tens of thousands to leave their homes, officials said Sunday.
The cyclone brought heavy rains and winds with speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour as it made landfall Saturday night in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest between India and Bangladesh on the coastline of the Bay of Bengal.
In India, one man was killed when a tree fell on him in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, on Saturday night, police confirmed. In the neighbouring state of Odisha, another person died when a wall collapsed, state officials said.
In Bangladesh, the tropical storm killed one person after a tree fell on his home, officials said.
Both countries evacuated hundreds of thousands of coastal residents to safety ahead of the cyclone as a precaution. Bangladesh evacuated more than 300,000 people, while India had shifted nearly 125,000 people, mostly in West Bengal state.
The operations at the region's main airport at Kolkata were suspended as a precautionary measure.
The storm had moved to the north-east and would weaken into a ‘deep depression’ over coastal Bangladesh by Sunday noon with speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour, the Indian Meteorological Department said.
On Sunday, rescue and relief teams were being sent to affected areas to assess the damage, Amalendu Dutta, an official in the state disaster management said by phone from Kolkata.
‘The region is experiencing squally winds. Hundreds of trees and electricity pylons were uprooted and houses have been damaged,’ Dutta said.
Bangladeshi officials said the storm left crops damaged over vast coastal areas.
‘We have asked the local administration to conduct quick assessment into the damages caused by the cyclone,’ Shahadat Hossain, head of Bangladesh disaster management department, told dpa by phone.
Standing crops, especially paddy and vegetable plantations, in the might have faced severe blow because of the storm, he said adding a detailed report on the damage would be available in a week.
Bangladeshi forest conservator Moyeenuddin Khan said he had no reports of major damage to the Sundarbans, where the storm made landfall.
‘Roofs made of corrugated iron in some of our forest offices inside the forest have blown away and some trees were uprooted,’ Khan said.
The 140,000 hectare forest, shared between Bangladesh and India, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to many rare species, including Bengal tigers.
Cyclones often form over the Bay of Bengal from April to November, bringing widespread destruction in coastal regions in India and Bangladesh.
from Gulf Times https://ift.tt/2qDspmF
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