Thousands left devastated following a cyclone striking Bangladesh and India

Local officials have said that at least 10 people have died following a cyclone that swept across the low-lying areas of Bangladesh this week. The Cyclone has also left 30,000 homes destroyed and tens of thousands more damaged.

The cyclone was named Remal (which means sand in Arabic) by Oman, under the system of naming cyclones in the Indian Ocean region.

Showkat Ali, government administrator of Barisal district said: “They mostly died after they were crushed under fallen houses or collapsed walls.” 

It’s estimated that seven people in the Barisal with three more of those who died where from neighbouring districts. Many of them are said to have died as a result of drowning.

In India’s West Bengal state, two people were killed reported PTI, which brought the death toll from the cyclone to 12. Cyclone Remal caused widespread destruction across West Bengal after making landfall between the state and Bangladesh on Sunday night.

Flight operations at Kolkata airport resumed after being suspended on Sunday noon. By Monday afternoon, the cyclone had weakened into a storm, but winds and rain continued to lash the coast.

In Khulna district, two people died, according to government administrator Helal Mahmud who said: “The cyclone has damaged more than 123,000 homes in the division, and among them some 31,000 homes were completely damaged.”

Another person died in Chittagong, where “more than 40,000 people are still in cyclone shelters due to heavy rains and strong wind,” according to administrator Tofael Islam.

Nearly 3 million people in Bangladesh were without electricity, according to officials from its power ministry. Both India and Bangladesh moved nearly a million people to storm shelters, with about 800,000 in Bangladesh and roughly 110,000 in India.

‘Remal’ weakened into a cyclonic storm on Monday morning, with wind speeds of 80-90 kilometres per hour, following landfall around midnight on Sunday, according to India’s meteorological department.

Remal is the first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal ahead of this year’s monsoon season, which runs from June to September. Fishing boats and trawlers operating in the North Bay of Bengal and the deep sea have been advised to remain in a safe harbour until further notice.

Bangladesh, prone to cyclones, has designed most schools in coastal regions as cyclone shelters and has structures to enable people to take refuge during surges. Many of these multi-storey facilities have space for sheltering cattle as well.