BENGAL DISASTER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 7, 9 January 1943, Page 6

BENGAL DISASTER

TERRIFIC CYCLONE

11,000 Perished In Tidal Wave

26 Feet High N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright Rec. 2.30 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 8. It is now revealed that 3000 square miles were affected by the terrific cyclone which swept south-western Bengal last October, when at least 11,000 people were killed. The cyclone swept up a tidal wave 26 feet high from the Bay of Bengal. It devastated a considerable area of Midnapore and 24 districts in Parganas area. About 25,000 dwellings were destroyed, almost every house throughout the area being damaged, and 75,000 head of cattle, which is threequarters of the stock in the area, perished. Over 1,000,000 persons were affected, 500,000 of whom suffered severe loss or injury. An eye-witness said that houses fell as though made of paper. Iron roofs crushed many to death in' the streets and uprooted trees were blown away like straws. The roaring wind and rain, coupled with the crashing and crackling of houses and trees, made speech impossible. Thousands of poisonous snakes and crocodiles floating on the flood waters made rescue difficult, while the innumerable bodies, within a few days, filled the air with a foul stench. One person out of 150 survived in one village, and 132 families out of 136 were wiped out in another village. The full extent of the disaster was not revealed previously because the information would have been valuable to the Japanese. Communications were so seriously disrupted that the Japanese might have.taken advantage of the district's plight.