Severe Cyclone Sidr hurtles towards Bangladesh by Steph Ball
Sidr continued to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm on Thursday morning, speeding across the northern Bay of Bengal towards Bangladesh and northeast India.
According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC), Sidr intensified to a category 5 storm on Thursday morning. Winds were reported to be 155mph (250km/h) with gusts 190mph (305km/h). This is the strongest classification of storm according to the Saffir-Simpson Scale.
The Indian Met Service has issued a cyclone warning for the West Bengal-Orissa coast with a storm surge of 6 to 7 metres above the normal astronomical tides forecast to hit the coast at the time of landfall. The JTWC has the eye of the cyclone making landfall in western Bangladesh, close to the Indian border and not far from the densely populated city of Calcutta. It is expected to hit land in the next 12 hrs. Due to the impending cyclone, thousands of residents have begun to evacuate.
The cyclone is expected to weaken just before it makes landfall. However with the combined storm surge, strong winds and torrential rain, this storm could have a potentially devastating affect on the region, especially across the low lying Ganges Delta.
Storms batter the country of Bangladesh each year causing hundreds of deaths. Perhaps the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded, the Bhola Cyclone, hit the Ganges Delta in November 1970 leaving up to half a million people dead. Another powerful storm killed over 100,000 people in 1991.
Further updates will appear here.
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