500,000 Flee Bangladesh Cyclone, at Least 20 Killed
Source: VOA
Cyclone Roanu swept across the southeastern coast of Bangladesh Saturday, forcing an estimated 500,000 people out of their homes. Tidal surges of up to two meters and floods killed at least 20 people.
The cyclone weakened after making landfall, but authorities in Bangladesh said scores of villages already were submerged by floodwaters.
Many of the victims were rice farmers overwhelmed by the storm as they worked in their paddies, accounts from the region said. Deadly landslides in parts of Chittagong District crushed villagers' mud-and-tin shacks, and the casualty toll was expected to rise.
VOA reporters in the area saw hundreds of homes destroyed or heavily damaged, and thousands of trees uprooted by high winds and water. Electricity service was disrupted over a wide area.
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