[chottala.com] DEVELOPING NEWS :Cyclone kills 250, snaps utilities

DEVELOPING NEWS Cyclone kills 250, snaps utilities

A car moves past a broken branch of a tree on Mirpur Road in Dhaka in the wake of a mega-cyclone. Arun Devnath took the picture on his mobile at 6:25am Friday. The mega-cyclone SIDR that ripped through the coastal zones overnight has killed at least 250 people and cut off communications and electricity supplies across the country, officials said Friday. The storm packing winds of 250 kph continued its severest onslaughts on the southern coast from about 5:30pm Thursday to early Friday when it weakened into a tropical storm and was moving across the country to the northeast. Chief adviser Fakhruuddin Ahmed is scheduled to visit the low-lying coastal district of Barguna that was the worst hit, counting no fewer than 77 deaths. Barisal had 52 deaths, Patuakhali 40, Bagerhat 15, Khulna 11, Gopalganj 10, Bhola 15, Satkhira 13 and Faridpur 10, as storm surges nearly five-feet high slammed into 15 coastal districts. Disaster management officials in Dhaka said casualties might rise as hundreds of fishing boats caught in the cyclone failed to return to shore. The storm uprooted thousands of trees, blasted roofing off countless houses and knocked off electric and telephone poles. The surges washed away hundreds of flimsy straw and mud huts, destroyed crops and fish farms and killed livestock. The capital Dhaka had power and communications link cut off as driving rains flooded some streets and strong winds sent billboards flying through the air.

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