Sharjah24 - AFP: Officials reported Tuesday that nine people have died as a result of the storm that struck Bangladesh and forced the evacuation of about a million people from their homes.
Cyclones are a common threat, but according to experts, climate change is likely making them more violent and frequent. Cyclones are the equivalent of hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific.
Late on Monday, Cyclone Sitrang made landfall in southern Bangladesh, although authorities were able to evacuate roughly a million people ahead of the massive weather system.
Nine individuals have perished, the most as a result of trees collapsing, including three members of one family in Cumilla's eastern region, according to Jebun Nahar, a government official.
According to Kamrul Ahsan, secretary of the Disaster Management Ministry, those who were evacuated from low-lying areas such as remote islands and river banks were placed in hundreds of multi-story cyclone shelters.
He stated, "They stayed the night in cyclone shelters.
According to officials, in other instances, police had to persuade locals who were hesitant to leave their houses.
Cities including Dhaka, Khulna, and Barisal were flooded by the country's widespread heavy rains, which also dumped 324 millimeters (13 inches) of rain on the city on Monday.
About 33,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, controversially relocated from the mainland to a storm-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, were ordered to stay indoors and there were no reports of any casualties or damage, officials said.
In the neighbouring eastern Indian state of West Bengal, thousands of people were evacuated Monday to more than 100 relief centres, officials said, but there were no reports of damage and people were returning home on Tuesday.
Cyclone Amphan, the second "super cyclone" ever recorded over the Bay of Bengal, which hit in 2020, killed more than 100 people in Bangladesh and India, and affected millions.
Better forecasting and more efficient evacuation preparation have significantly decreased the number of fatalities from such storms in recent years. The deadliest reported event occurred in 1970 and killed thousands of people.
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