Tag Archives: Cyclone

Deadly cyclone pounds Bangladesh, Sri Lanka

By Nita Bhalla

NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Tens of thousands of people in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka need aid including clean drinking water, dry food rations and medicines after a deadly cyclone hammered the South Asia region, aid agencies said on Tuesday.

With wind speeds reaching 90 kph (56 mph) and heavy rains, cyclone Roanu struck Bangladesh on Saturday, after buffeting India and Sri Lanka in the Bay of Bengal – killing at least 120 people and affecting hundreds of thousands more in the region.

Aid workers said Roanu’s torrential rains triggered flooding, landslides and tidal surges mostly in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – ripping apart thousands of rickety homes, burying entire villages and inundating swathes of farmland.

“Tens of thousands of poor families will have lost most of their assets – not just their houses, but also their food stores, seasonal crops and vital livestock such as cows, goats and ducks,” said Shakeb Nabi, Christian Aid’s Bangladesh head.

“Access to food, safe drinking water, health supplies and sanitation materials is limited in some villages. Water points have been ruined, ground water contaminated and agricultural land destroyed.”

In Sri Lanka, where more than a week of heavy rains has triggered the worst flooding in 25 years, the United Nations said it was worried about the spread of diseases due to large amounts of standing water.

The World Health Organization said there was an increased risk of vector borne diseases like malaria, water borne and diarrheal diseases, the bacterial disease leptospirosis, fungal diseases and acute respiratory infections.

“Prevention measures to combat such diseases are essential,” it added.

Roanu is the first cyclone of the season, which generally lasts from April to December, with severe storms often causing mass evacuations from coastal low-lying villages and widespread crop and property damage.

RUSHING IN RELIEF

Aid agencies in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka said they had begun distributing relief in the worst affected districts and foreign aid had started arriving in Sri Lanka from countries including India, Pakistan and Singapore.

Half a million people have had their lives disrupted in Bangladesh’s low-lying coastal areas such as Barisal and Chittagong, and over 255,000 people are affected in Sri Lankan districts including Kegalle, Gamapaha and the capital Colombo in the west.

“We have pre-positioned household materials and hygiene kits that we can dispatch to affected areas and distribute to communities in urgent need,” said Senait Gebregziabher, country director for Plan International.

“These materials will be essential as children and families affected by the cyclone, particularly those forced to leave their homes, will most likely be seeking food, shelter, basic sanitation and access to clean water.”

Sri Lanka has reported 94 deaths and 107 people missing. Bangladesh said at least 24 people had died and India reported two deaths.

U.N. emergency officials said Roanu also brought heavy rains and flooding to coastal eastern and southern India and western parts of Myanmar, but the impact was less severe.

(Reporting by Nita Bhalla. Additional reporting by Shihar Aneez in Colombo, Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Alisa Tang in Bangkok. Editing by Emma Batha. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)

Powerful Cyclone Aimed At Australia

A tropical cyclone is bearing down on Australia.

Tropical Cyclone Ita is expected to make landfall in northeast Australia.  The storm is the equivalent of a strong Category 4 hurricane according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

However, forecasters say the storm will strengthen before landfall and be a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone.

The storm is expected to have such intense winds and rain by the time it makes landfall that forecasters are warning of strong storm surges that could cause serious damage to coastal areas.

The Australia Bureau of Meteorology believes that Cooktown will bear the brunt of the storm’s landfall and then the storm will turn south.

Thousands Evacuate Ahead of Cyclone Helen

Indian officials are evacuating coastlines as Cyclone Helen approaches.

At least 25,000 people have been evacuated and thousands more are expected to leave before the storm makes landfall on Friday.

Cyclone Helen is tracking to hit four districts of India Friday with winds up to 68 miles an hour. The slow moving storm is producing surges of 5 feet already and heavy rainfall is expected to cause flooding in low-lying areas.

Helen is reporting maximum wind gusts of 80 miles per hour.

India’s eastern coast was hit last month by Cyclone Phailin that killed 25 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes. Officials say the evacuation of a million people ahead of the storm kept the death toll low.

Cyclone Cleopatra Kills 17 In Sardinia

Cyclone Cleopatra roared into the Italian island of Sardinia killing at least 17 people and leaving dozens missing.

The storm’s heavy rains led to flash flooding and many rivers to overflow their banks. The flooding destroyed several bridges and swept away cars and homes.

A mother and daughter died when they car was swept away in the flash flooding. A family of three died when a bridge collapsed onto their car.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta has declared a state of emergency for the island, calling the situation a “national tragedy.” He said that $27 million would be immediately allocated to emergency relief efforts and that soldiers are being sent to the island for search and rescue operations.

Reports say the flash flooding reached 10 feet high at times. The mayor of the told of Olbia told the BBC the storm was “apocalyptic.”

Officials say that citizens of the island are coming together. Many residents with homes left undamaged by the storm are using social media to contact those who have lost homes and are inviting them in for meals and shelter.

Category Five Cyclone Bearing Down On India

India has evacuated over 200,000 people from the western coastline as a massive cyclone roars through the Bay of Bengal.

Cyclone Phailin is predicted to make landfall Saturday morning in Orissa state.

The storm has been classified as category 5 by the London-based Tropical Storm Risk center and the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center has predicted winds from the superstorm could reach 195 mph when it hits land.  Storm surges will be at least 10 feet and likely much higher.

“The storm has high damage potential considering windspeed,” the director of the India Meteorological Department told the BBC.  More concerning to the meteorologists watching the storm is the wide area the storm is covering in the ocean.

A super-cyclone similar to Phailin killed 10,000 people in Orissa state in 1999.