cyclone fani kills at least 12 in india before swiping bangladesh

cyclone fani kills at least 12 in india before swiping Cyclone Fani, one of the biggest to hit India in years, barrelled into Bangladesh on Saturday (May 4) after leaving a trail of deadly destruction in India. Having hit land, tropical cyclone Fani had lost some of its power and was downgraded to a ‘Deep Depression’ by the Indian Meteorological Department. Indian media reported that at least 12 people had died across the state, with most deaths caused by falling trees, but a mass evacuation of 1.2 million people in the 24 hours before the tropical cyclone made landfall averted a greater loss of life.The seaside temple town of Puri, which lay directly in the path of Fani, suffered extensive damage, as winds gusting up to 200 kph (124 mph) tore off tin roofs, snapped power lines, and uprooted trees on Friday. Neighbouring West Bengal escaped substantial damage, but authorities moved nearly 45,000 people to safer locations.The cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal can last from April to December.In 1999, a super-cyclone battered the coast of Odisha for 30 hours, killing 10,000 people. About 1.2 million people living in the most vulnerable districts in Bangladesh had been moved to some 4,000 shelters. The storm destroyed several houses in the Noakhali district, where a two-year-old child was killed and about 30 people were injured, local official Tanmoy Das told reporters.