SATKHIRA, Bangladesh — On Monday, cyclone Remal battered the coasts of Bangladesh and India with intense gusts and rain. The storm killed at least sixteen people and cut out power to millions before it subsided.
The cyclone is the first of several storms that have battered the neighboring South Asian countries' low-lying shores in previous years this year.
With wind gusts of up to 135 kph (84 mph), it passed late on Sunday through the region of Mongla, the southern port of Bangladesh, and the Sagar Islands, which are next to West Bengal, India. It made landfall at approximately 9 p.m. (1530 GMT) before beginning to wane early on Monday.
As word came in from coastal districts, the official death toll increased in both nations.
Disaster management official Mijanur Rahman told Reuters that at least ten people had died in Bangladesh, although he did not provide any specifics.
Mr. Rahman had earlier stated that two people had died on their way to cyclone shelters and that it would take more time for officials to determine the whole magnitude of the casualties.
“People are usually very reluctant to leave their livestock and homes to go to cyclone shelters,” he said. “They wait until the last minute when it is often too late.”
Six individuals have already died in the Indian state of West Bengal as a result of electrocution, according to officials.
In the state capital of Kolkata, a lady perished when a mud home fell on the island of Mousuni in the Sundarbans delta, while another person was crushed to death by falling concrete.
Bangladesh shut down electricity supply to some areas in advance to avoid accidents, while in many coastal towns fallen trees and snapped electricity lines further disrupted supply, power ministry officials said.
“We have had no electricity since night, my mobile battery will run out any time,” said Rahat Raja, a resident of Bangladesh’s coastal district of Satkhira. “By Allah’s grace, the cyclone was not as violent as we thought.”
According to authorities, around 3 million people in Bangladesh lacked access to energy. Authorities in West Bengal said that 300 mud homes had been destroyed and at least 1,200 electricity poles had been toppled.
Some thatched and tin roofs were also blown off by strong gusts. The Sundarbans, which are shared by Bangladesh and India and are home to some of the world's biggest mangrove forests, saw coastal regions inundated and several embankments destroyed by the rain and high tides.
In the capital city of Bangladesh, Dhaka, officials prepared for the storm by setting up over 8,000 cyclone shelters and recruiting 78,000 volunteers. Rain inundated highways, disrupting transit.
Boatman Shah Alom in Mongla stated he had not seen a typhoon this long in decades. "This storm has been going on since last night, but usually it lasts for a few hours," he remarked. "I have no idea when it will end."
Television footage showed numerous streets in Kolkata inundated by the storm's rains, causing at least 52 fallen trees and building breaches.
After more than fifty planes were canceled on Sunday, Kolkata resumed operations. Additionally, suburban train services were resumed.
According to officials, both countries relocated about a million people—approximately 800,000 in Bangladesh and around 110,000 in India—to storm shelters.
They also stated that by afternoon, the storm is predicted to shift northeast and progressively diminish into a deep depression, delivering further rain to the affected states.
