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A powerful cyclone battered the coast of Bangladesh on Thursday with strong winds, surging waves and heavy rain, forcing hundreds of thousands of villagers in the low-lying nation to seek shelter. With maximum sustained winds of 149 mph (240 kilometers per hour), Tropical Cyclone Sidr swept in from the Bay of Bengal, buffeting southwestern coastal areas within a 155-mile (250-kilometer) radius of the storm’s eye. No damage or casualties were immediately reported, but rescue teams were on standby at a nearby forest office, forest official Mozharul Islam said in Khulna.
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Local officials said at least 500 people were killed.

But a United News of Bangladesh report, monitored by The Associated Press, put the death toll at at least 1,100.

The storm had weakened significantly by the time it reached eastern India on Friday night, but it was still loaded with moisture.

“It’s now a rainmaker, snowmaker” as it moves to higher elevations, and winds have dropped to 35 to 50 mph (56 to 80 kph) — below hurricane strength — according to CNN meteorologist Kevin Corriveau. The storm is moving northeast, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

But Bangladesh isn’t entirely safe, Corriveau added.

He said it’s possible rainfall from mountains will swell rivers, and by Sunday night or Monday the surge could reach already flooded locations in Bangladesh.

Forecasters predicted dry, clear weather with no wind in Bangladesh for the next two days, good news for search-and-rescue teams looking for casualties.

It was difficult to assess the damage and death toll because communications were cut. High tides swept away dozens of people.

Given the 15-foot (roughly 5-meter) storm surge, much of the coastal area has been cut off, “and there is almost a complete lack of electricity across the country,” CNN’s Dan Rivers reported Friday.
Areas along the coast received the brunt of the storm, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. The worst-hit districts were Patuakhali, Barguna and Jhalakathi. Sixty percent to 70 percent of homes in those areas were destroyed, according to local officials.

Members of the Bangladesh army and navy were trying to help.

U.S. military officials said Friday that Defense Secretary Robert Gates was ready to dispatch Navy vessels carrying 3,500 Marines to the region to help in recovery efforts.

It is expected that the USS Kearsarge and USS Wasp would move from the Gulf of Oman. The USS Tarawa recently left Hawaii, and it could go to Bangladesh as well, officials said.

Sidr’s powerful winds and lashing rain uprooted trees, leveled homes and even damaged buildings where residents sought shelter. Video footage from the height of the storm showed high, rolling waves along the coastal areas and winds blowing so hard palm trees were flattened.

On Friday, Nabiha Chowdhury with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said about 600,000 people had fled, adding that about 2 million people lived along the coast but said it was difficult to tell because tourists flock to the region.

“The weather in the capital today is gloomy, no rain, a bit of wind. The electricity is out. It might take weeks to have the electricity come back,” Chowdhury said Friday.

Red Cross rapid-assessment teams have been deployed and will “assess the damage, talk to the people and see whatever is needed and immediately they contact us and tell us if there is a shortage or water, food, clothing, shelter,” Chowdhury said.
Bangladesh has a long history with deadly cyclones.

In 1991, a devastating cyclone killed at least 140,000 people, according to the United Nations. And in 1970, Cyclone Bhola struck Bangladesh — then East Pakistan — killing 500,000 people. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration considers that storm to be the 20th century’s “greatest tropical system disaster.”

Some 3.2 million people were expected to be evacuated in all, Ali Imam Majumder, a senior government official, told reporters in Dhaka. “We have taken all precautions,” he said. Communications with remote forest areas and offshore islands were temporarily cut off. Officials in Cox’s Bazar Thursday said they had evacuated nearly 200,000 people to about 600 government and private shelters and asked others to move on their own. As the hurricane SIDR crashed on the Barisal-Khulna coastline, around 400,000 more had been evacuated from other coastal areas, disaster management officials said. Chittagong and Mongla ports suspended operations on Wednesday and moved ships to safer areas, port officials said. Chittagong airport suspended flights and moved planes away, officials said.

At least 620,000 people had moved into official shelters, where they were being given emergency rations, Majumber said. The eye of the cyclone was expected to make landfall later Thursday, about 85 miles southwest of Dhaka, the capital, said Shahjahan Alam, a Bangladesh Meteorological Department official.
Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation, is prone to seasonal cyclones and floods that cause huge losses of life and property. The coastal area bordering eastern India is famous for the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, a world heritage site that is home to rare Royal Bengal Tigers.

Officials feared storm surges of as much as 20 feet could submerge low-lying areas. The cyclone also triggered cold drizzles and high winds across the country. The Meteorological Department had put the country’s three major maritime ports — Chittagong, Mongla and Cox’s Bazar — on the highest level of alert. Ferry service and flights were halted across the coastal region. Ships were warned to return to shore. Volunteers helped evacuate villagers to cyclone shelters, built of concrete on raised pilings. Some took refuge in “mud forts” built along the coast to resist tidal surges. Schools, mosques and other public buildings were also turned into makeshift shelters. Many of the fishing boats in the region’s coastal waters put down anchor at nearby shoals and islets that dot the South Asian country’s shoreline.

The sea resort of Cox’s Bazar was deserted after Wednesday’s warning. Dozens of tourists were stranded in the offshore coral atoll of St. Martins as rough seas forced cruise boats and ships to stay ashore.

Latest: A boat capsized in Satkhira, leaving a 70-year-old man dead, as the hurricane SIDR struck Khulna-Barisal coast Thursday amid driving rains. A bulletin of the weather office said at 9:50pm that it may take three to four hours more to cross the area.
Source:AP, CNN