Bangladesh Cyclone Causes 500,000 To Flee Gusts Of 125 Mph Wipe Out Huts, Blow Like ‘Hundreds Of Demons’

A cyclone hammered the Bangladesh coast Monday with the force of “hundreds of demons,” leveling entire villages of mud and thatch huts, flooding crops, and killing at least six people.

Three men and two children were crushed under collapsed buildings or hit by flying pieces of tin roofs in the southern port of Chittagong. One man died in Teknaf, about 110 miles down the coast, when he was blown off his roof while trying to secure it against the storm.

The storm roared in from the Bay of Bengal with wind gusts of 125 mph, forcing a half-million people to flee their huts and huddle in concrete shelters. Many power and telephone lines were down, thus a full account of casualties and damage was not available.

“My building is rattling as if hundreds of demons are shaking it,” said Abdul Alim, a resident of this resort town 65 miles south of Chittagong. Tree branches whipped through the air like torn paper, he said.

Six-foot waves swamped outlying islands, destroying rice crops and washing away shrimp farms. St. Martin, a tiny island of 6,000, and Teknaf, home to 22,000 Muslim refugees who live in tents after fleeing the Burmese army, took the brunt of the storm.

Power was out and streets were abandoned in Chittagong, the country’s largest port and commercial lifeline. The storm ripped a freighter from its mooring and set it adrift, said port chairman Zahiruddin Mahmud.

Monday’s storm was nearly as powerful as a 1991 cyclone that killed 139,000 people and caused $1.7 billion in damage.

But officials expected fewer casualties from the latest cyclone, which hit at low tide, then turned slightly, averting a head-on collision with the coastline that could have created powerful tidal surges.

Army and navy troops were on alert to help relief efforts, along with 33,000 volunteers from the Red Crescent, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross. Food was packed and ready to be sent to hard-hit areas.

By Monday night, wind gusts had fizzled to 15 mph and the storm had moved on to neighboring India.