This would be the most powerful cyclone to form in bay of Bengal since the beginning of this century. In the past 24 hours, the cyclone Amphan devastates large areas of India and Bangladesh. The two countries reported, respectively, of at least 72 dead (in the indian State of West Bengal) and 23 deaths, according to the last balance sheet. The cyclone caused extensive flooding, destroying homes and crops.
experienced in the management of cyclones and benefiting from systems of weather monitoring to be effective, the two nations of South Asia were evacuated as a preventive measure more than 3 million people in shelters. "It was a storm powerful. But it has gradually lost power for three days before hitting the indian State of West Bengal, " said the Agence France-Presse Nayeem Wahra, an expert in natural disasters in Bangladesh.
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10 million people without power
Appeared this weekend on the coast of India, Amphan (pronounced " um-pun ") made landfall Wednesday at the end of the day in the south of the great city of Calcutta, with winds of around 165 km/h and torrential rains. As the winds raged on the city's bangladeshi Tala, Shafiqul Islam spent three endless hours sheltered under his bed with his wife and two children, gnawed by remorse for having made an "enormous mistake" in not giving in one of the shelters anticyclone. When he was finally able to highlight, " the house was destroyed. Most of the houses of our neighbours were on the ground, " found the farmer of 40 years. "We switched to two fingers of death," sighed he.
By knocking down electricity poles, cutting wires and destroying transformers, the storm has led to power cuts for 15 million people in Bangladesh. Thursday morning, 10 million of them were still without power. In the city bangladeshi Buri Goalini, one of the most affected, " the cyclone has not killed people. But he has destroyed our livelihood ", said the Agency France-Presse Bhabotosh Kumar Mondal. The responsible of the municipality described " a trail of devastation unprecedented ".
A "storm surge" – a sudden rise of the water caused by the wind – sometimes three meters high has overwhelmed a part of the coastline and crashing waves of salt water in the villages. According to Nayeem Wahra, "storm surge" caused by the cyclone Amphan has, however, been less high as feared by the meteorologists.
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wind gusts to 240 km/h
on the other side Of the border, in India, the situation is the same and the damage is also one of great magnitude. "The cyclone Amphan has ravaged the coastline of West Bengal. Thousands of homes have been put at the bottom, uprooted trees, washed out roads and crops destroyed, " said the press Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of the State.
At the end of a night of terror, the 15 million inhabitants of Calcutta have woken up with the spectacle of a city to the flooded streets, cars filled with water sometimes up to the windows and main traffic routes blocked by trees and electric poles fell to the earth. The images show the track of the airport is covered with water.
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Thursday, the cyclone Amphan had weakened in its progression towards the north, to the point of reaching the stage of mere tropical depression. He was reached Monday, the category 4 out of 5 on the scale of Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds of 200 to 240 km/h. It is the most powerful cyclone to be born in the bay of Bengal since 1999, when a cyclone resulted in the deaths of 10,000 people in Odisha, a coastal State of eastern India.
