Millions flee as cyclone batters coasts of India, Bangladesh

NEW DELHI — A powerful cyclone plowed inland Wednesday after crashing into the coasts of India and Bangladesh, where more than 2.6 million people fled to shelters in a frantic evacuation made more challenging by the coronavirus pandemic.

Cyclone Amphan, the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane, was packing sustained winds of up to 105 mph with maximum gusts of 118 mph.

Although the cyclone was expected to weaken as it moved toward Bangladesh, authorities warned of extensive damage to flimsy houses and storm surges pushing seawater 15 miles inland, flooding cities including Kolkata.

The cyclone washed away bridges connecting Indian islands to the mainland and left many areas without electricity or phone service, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said. She said that while a clearer picture of the devastation would emerge by Thursday, there had been at least seven deaths.

“We are facing three crises: the coronavirus, the thousands of migrants who are returning home and now the cyclone,” said

Banerjee, one of the fiercest critics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As the cyclone hit the coast, trees swayed wildly, electric poles lay scattered on the roads of Kolkata, rain pounded fishing villages and rivers surged. Thousands of homes were damaged, and river embankments were washed away.

The region has some of the most vulnerable communities in South Asia. They include poor fishing communities in the Sunderbans and more than 1 million Rohingya refugees in crowded camps in Bangladesh.

AP A man walks ahead of Cyclone Amphan’s landfall Wednesday in eastern India. The cyclone was the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane with wind gusts up to 118 mph.