14 dead as cyclone hits India, Bangladesh
KHULNA (Bangladesh): Fourteen people died and more than two million others spent a night huddled in storm shelters as Cyclone Bulbul smashed into the coasts of India and Bangladesh with fierce gales and torrential rains, officials said.
The cyclone packed winds of up to 120kph when it hit late Saturday, closing ports and airports in both countries.
Seven people were killed in India’s West Bengal state, the Press Trust of India reported, including two after uprooted trees fell on their homes and another after being struck by falling branches in Kolkata. An eighth person died under a collapsed wall in nearby Odisha state.
In Bangladesh, six people were killed – five by falling trees – and at least 20 people were injured.
Five others are missing after a fishing trawler sank in squally weather on Meghna river near the southern island of Bhola, district administrator Masud Alam Siddiqui said yesterday.
The cyclone also damaged some 4,000 mostly mud and tin-built houses, said disaster management secretary Shah Kamal.
In Khulna, trees swayed violently and were ripped from the ground in the fierce storm, blocking roads and hampering access to the area.
Some low-lying parts were flooded, said disaster management minister Enamur Rahman.
Authorities said the cyclone was weakening as it moved inland.
“It has turned into a deep depression, causing heavy rainfall,” said Bangladesh weather bureau deputy chief Ayesha Khatun.