Parts of Bangladesh are devastated after cyclone Sitrang dropped as much as 17 inches of rain in 48 hours. The Times of India reports at least 35 people are dead, but the true number of people killed by the storm is still unknown as communications networks are down and as many as 20,000 people are cut off by flooding set off by tidal surge in the southern Bhola District and 10 million people were without power on Tuesday.
“It was terrible. It looked like the sea was coming to grab us,” Mizanur Rahman, a Bhola district resident, told Reuters.
Government officials said the storm damaged approximately 10,000 homes and destroyed more than 15,000 acres of farm land as well as thousands of fishing projects. Camps housing ethnic Rohingya refugees were largely spared by the storm. (Sitrang: Reuters, AP, Times of India, Deutsche Welle, AFP; Sitrang rainfall totals: AccuWeather; Climate Signals background: Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones)