Cyclone kills hundreds in Bangladesh
DHAKA, BANGLADESH — Cyclone Sidr slammed into Bangladesh’s southwestern coast with 150-mph winds late Thursday, killing at least 242 people, leveling homes and forcing the evacuation of 650,000 villagers, officials said.
Storm surges nearly 4 feet high inundated low areas and some islands. Communications with remote forest areas and offshore islands were temporarily lost.
Residents said the storm flattened thousands of straw and mud huts, destroyed crops and fish farms and uprooted trees and utility poles.
Torrential rain flooded some streets here in the capital, while strong winds sent billboards flying.
By early today, the cyclone had weakened into a tropical storm and was moving across the country to the northeast.
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