DHAKA (AFP) – The death toll from a cyclone that smashed into low-lying areas of Bangladesh has risen to at least 10 people, with more than 30,000 homes destroyed and tens of thousands more damaged, top local officials said Monday.
“They mostly died after they were crushed under fallen houses or collapsed walls,” said Showkat Ali, government administrator of Barisal district, where seven people died.
Three others died in neighbouring districts, some by drowning.
Fierce gales and crashing waves battered the coast as Cyclone Remal made landfall on Sunday night.
By Monday afternoon, it had weakened into a storm, but winds and rain still lashed the coast.
“Heavy rains unleashed by the cyclone are going on, and the wind speed is also high,” Ali added.
In Khulan district, two people died, government administrator Helal Mahmud told AFP.
“The cyclone has damaged more than 123,000 homes in the division, and among them some 31,000 homes were completely damaged,” he said.
Another person died in Chittagong, where “more than 40,000 people are still in cyclone shelters due to heavy rains and strong wind”, administrator Tofael Islam told AFP.
Power was knocked out to more than 12.5 million people, said Biswanath Sikder, chief engineer of the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board, the country’s largest state-run power distribution company
“We will resume power supply after the cyclone situation improves,” he said.
