WHEN NATURE TURNS KILLER

A World Meteorological Organisation study reveals the highest reported historical death tolls from specific weather-related events. Here are the five deadliest:

NOVEMBER 12-13, 1970

CYCLONE 300,000 killed in tropical cyclone through Bangladesh (East Pakistan at the time of the incident)

APRIL 26, 1989

TORNADO 1,300 killed in Manikganj district of Bangladesh

NOVEMBER 2, 1994

LIGHTNING: 469INDIRECT STRIKE killed in lightning-caused oil tank fire in Dronka, Egypt

DECEMBER 23, 1975

LIGHTNING: DIRECT STRIKE 21 killed by a single stroke of lightning in a hut in Manica Tribal Trust Lands in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia at the time of the incident)

APRIL 30, 1888

HAILSTORM 246 killed near Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, by hailstones as large as ‘goose eggs and oranges and cricket balls’

GETTY IMAGES The 1970 tropical cyclone in Bangladesh, or erstwhile East Pakistan, is sometimes referred to as the ‘Great Bhola Cyclone’.