A powerful cyclone killed at least five people as it swept through eastern India and Bangladesh on Wednesday, accompanied by a storm surge that swamped embankments and destroyed hundreds of homes in low-lying coastal areas, officials said.
Authorities had moved around 3 million people to safety in both countries this week, as Cyclone Amphan brewed in the Bay of Bengal to become one of the strongest storms to hit the region in years. The operation was complicated by efforts to avoid a surge in coronavirus cases.
Strong winds upturned cars in West Bengal’s capital Kolkata and felled trees and electricity poles, television pictures showed. Officials said it was too early to estimate a toll on life or damage to property. Warning systems, evacuation measures, and storm shelters in both countries have been strengthened since.Surging waters broke through embankments surrounding an island in Bangladesh’s Noakhali district, destroying more than 500 homes, local official Rezaul Karim said.Embankments were also breached in West Bengal’s Sundarban delta, where weather authorities had said the surge whipped up by the cyclone could inundate up to 15 km inland.
“The cyclone surge coincided with the new moon high tides. It is devastation in the coastal belt,” he said.
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