Cyclone Bulbul lashed coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh, 13 dead and dozen fishermen missing

Monday, November 11, 2019

Cyclone Bulbul lashed coastal areas this weekend killing at least 13 people in Bangladesh and India this weekend. Officials said that prompt evacuations saved many lives and the worst was over. The Bangladeshi authorities said that some 30 people were injured and around 6,000 homes were partially of fully damaged.

Falling tress killed five of the six victims in Bangladesh, it included a 52-year old woman who had spent the night in a shelter. On Sunday she returned home and was killed when a tree crashed onto her house. A 60-year old fisherman had refused to evacuate.

Anwar Uddin, a local public representative in the southern Bhola district said that two fishing boats have not yet returned and relatives have been unable to contact the roughly 36 men on board.

In southeast Bangladesh no major damage was immediately reported in camps.

Javed Khan, the state’s minister for disaster management said that in India’s state of West Bengal, seven people were killed.

The cyclone was expected to weaken but warned fishermen not to venture into the sea for the next 12 hours according to India’s meteorological department.

In about 5,558 shelters some 2 million people from all of Bangladesh’s 13 coastal districts huddled. Between 100 and 120 km per hour the wind speeds rose and some low-lying coastal areas were flooded.

The authorities said that wind speeds have now come down to between 70 and 80 kph and it may take a couple of days to get a normal situation.

« Back to Page