Cyclone in India Kills 68 People

Sixty-eight people were killed and 60,000 homes destroyed as a cyclone swept through the Indian states of Bihar and West Bengal on the evening of April 13, 2010. The storm toppled trees, houses, and telephone lines as it passed through the eastern region of the country that borders Bangladesh.

Packing speeds of 100mph (160 kph), the cyclone snapped telephone lines and electricity lines, uprooted trees, and injured hundreds of people, according to Srikumar Mukherjee, the West Bengal Civil Defense Minister.

Officials said that thousands of mud huts in Bihar and another 50,000 in West Bengal were demolished.

Mukherjee added that the villages in West Bengal that were massively hit were Raiganj, Hematabad, and Kiran Dighi. Rescue teams and police officers have recovered 31 bodies from these areas.

In the northeastern Bihar districts of Kishenganj, Purnea, and Araria, 50 people were reported dead due to the storm, according to state official Nitish Kumar.

Additionally, a prison wall in Bihar’s Araria district collapsed, which led authorities to transfer over 600 inmates to another jailhouse, Kumar said. Government offices and local schools were used to house those who have been left homeless.

In related news, in Bangladesh, five people died and dozens were reported injured because of tropical storms.